-].I2.7,^ 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Di'viiion-  stt^^r^. 


VvC 


Mimm 


'^^^ 


CHRIST  REJECTED! 

OR  THE 

TRIAL 

OF  THE 

ELEVEN  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST, 

In  a  Court  of  Law  and  Equity^ 
AS  CHARGED  WITH 

STEALING  THE  CRUCIFIED  BODY  OF  CHRIST 
Out  of  the  Sepulchre, 

Humbly  dedicated  to  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews,  which  are  scattered 
abroad  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and  to  the  Deists  of  modem  times. 

DESIGNED,  ALSO,  AS  A  HELP  TO  WAVERING  CHRISTIANS. 
AN    ORIGINAL    WORK. 


Written  by  a  believer  in  Christ,  under  the  assumed  na?n»of 
CAPTAIj^T  0]^ESIMUS. 

"  I  have  also  spoken  by  the  Prophets,  and  I  have  multiplied  visions, 
and  used  similitudes,  by  the  ministry  of  the  Prophets."  Jlosea,  xii.  10. 


PHILABELPHIA . 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR, 
By  Joseph  Rakestraw. 


Eastern  District  of  Pennsyhattia,  to  xini :  J^o.  5269. 

^^S-^ig^  3E  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  twenty-eighth 
J^^'TT^-  dav  of  June,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
|^S5t.Al^.  ^  jjj^-j  thirty-two,  John  Hewson,  of  the  said  district,  hath 
«^^2^S»  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  title  of 
■wtiich  is  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: 

"  Chriat  Rejected:  or  the  trial  of  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ,  in 
a  court  of  law  and  equity,  as  charged  with  stealing  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  out  of  the  Sepulchre.  Humbly  dedicated  to  the  whole 
nation  of  the  Jews,  which  are  scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of  the 
earth;  and  to  the  Deists  of  modern  times.  Designed,  also,  as  a  help 
to  wavering  Christians.  An  Original  work.  Written  by  a  believer 
in  Christ,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Captain  Onesimus." 

"I  have  also  spoken  by  the  Prophets,  and  I  have  multiplied 
visions,  and  used  similitudes,  by  the  ministry  of  the  Propheta.'" 
Hosea  xii,   10. 

The  right  whereof  he  claims  as  proprietor,  in  conformity  with  an  act 
of  Congress,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  amend  the  several  Acts  respecting 
Copy-rights." 

FRANCIS  HOPKINSON,   Clerk  of  the  District. 


PREFACE. 


The  author's  apology  for  undulating  the 
€alni  sea  of  the  human  mind,  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the 
dead,  with  the  immortahty  of  the  human 
family,  and  their  moral  accountability  to 
Heaven  for  their  words  and  actions  in  this 
world,  humbly  addressed  to  the  reader,  whe- 
ther he  be  a  Christian,  Jew  or  Deist. 

The  design  of  the  writer,  and  the  ostensi- 
ble object  which  he  has  in  view,  in  presenting 
this  Trial  to  the  world,  is  to  confirm  the  waver- 
ing Christian,  and  both  fairly  and  legally  meet 
the  national  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  against 
Christ,  and  forcibly  rebut  by  sound  argument, 
the  philosophical  objections  of  the  human  mind 
against  divine  revelation,  by  having  the  whole 
matter  at  issue  between  the  parties,  by  mutual 
consent,  submitted  to  a  Court  of  Law  and 
inquest,  of  what  went  with  the  body  of 
Christ,  after  it  was  crucified :  it  being,  in  the 
view   of  the   author,  the  cardinal  point  on 


iv  PREFACE. 

which  the  whole  truth  of  the  Gospel  con- 
verges. And  also,  to  humbly  persuade  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  calmly  re-consider  the 
high  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  lawful 
Messiahship  of  the  Jewish  nation. 

CAPTAIN  ONESIMUS. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


IVesVs  Picture  of  Christ  Rejected,  as  exhibited  in  old  Con- 
gress Hall,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  capital  of  Penn- 
sylvania, in  the  country  of  North  America,  April,  1830. 


THE  original  idea  of  this  v.ork  is  from  Heaven, 
and  first  presented  itself  to  the  author's  mind,  while  he 

Figure  1. — Captain  Onesimus,  viewing  the  Picture;  and  has  a 
vision  from  heaven. 

Fig.  2.— Christ  boMiul  before  Pilate. 

Fig.  3. — The  Governor  on  his  judgment  seat. 

Fig.  4.— Caiaphas,  the  High  I'riest  of  liie  Jews,  in  the  act  of  re- 
jecting Christ. 

Fig.  5. — Mount  Csdvary  and  the  three  crosses,  over  which  the  sun 
is  veiled  in  darkness. 

Fig.  6. — The  heavens  look  arsgerly  at  the  High  Priest  of  the  J'.nvs. 

Fig.  7. — The  vision  containing  these  words: — *'  Say  ye,  his  disci- 
ples came  by  night,  and  stole  him  away  while  we  slept^*'  from  which 
words»  Captain  Onesimus  was  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  write 
this  work,  and  prove  to  the  world,  that  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead. 

Figs.  8  and  9.— The  trees  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
A  2 


'6  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

was  standing  in  old  Congress  Hall,  viewing  West's 
Picture  of  Christ  Rejected;  when  there  came  a  portion 
of  the  divine  afflatus  from  heaven,  and  presented  the 
plan  of  the  following  work  to  the  author's  view,  and 
immediately  passed  away.  The  whole  time  he  was 
viewing  the  Picture,  did  not  exceed  half  an  hour :  ne- 
vertheless, it  returned  to  him  at  different  times  through 
the  same  year ;  and  when  he  had  light  on  the  subject, 
he  wrote  it  down.  So  that  the  plan  of  the  work  was 
from  Heaven :  but  the  language  in  which  the  vision  is 
clothed,  is  the  author's  own,  as  a  free  agent,  in  the  col- 
location of  his  words.  So  that,  with  Solomon,  he  sought 
to  find  out  the  best  words  in  his  vernacular  tongue  to 
clothe  his  ideas. 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  process  of  time,  by  the  over- 
ruling providence  of  God,  that  Captain  Onesimus  ar- 
rived in  one  of  his  master's  ships  of  the  line,  in  this 
spiritual  warfare,  at  the  port  of  Philadelphia,  when 
he  went  on  sliore,  and  undertook  a  pedestrious  voyage : 
and  as  he  was  ambulating  the  streets  of  that  city,  he 
suddenly  found  himself  carried  by  the  pedestrious  cur- 
rent of  its  inhabitants,  into  Chesnut  street :  and,  having 
the  walking  breeze  on  his  star-board  quarter,  a  few 
points  free,  and  easing  away  his  sheets,  and  squaring 
his  yards  to  the  wind,  when,  under  a  press  of  sail,  he 
shoots  his  ship  ahead,  and  soon  arrived  at  an  old  edi- 
fice, called  Congress  Hall :  (this,  Christian  friends,  is 
the  sacred  place  where  our  fathers  raised  the  standard 
and  unfurled  the  first  banner  of  true  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  io  our  dark  and  oppressed  world.  And  it  was  in 
this  hallowed  Hall,  that  the  Declaration  of  the  Indepen- 
dence of  the  Thirteen  United  States  of  North  America, 
was  first  announced  to  the  human  race,  on  the  4th  ot 
July,  177G,)  when  the  Christian  sailor  seeing  a  vast  num- 
ber of  the  citizens  of  that  city,  gliding  into  the  old  Hall, 
his  marine  curiosity  drew  him  with  the  rushing  current, 
after  them. 

(The  reader  will  benignly  indulge  the  stenographer,  to  in- 
form him,  that  it  was  in  this  hall,  that  the  first  germ  (in  the 
full  sense  of  the  word,)  of  the  unalienable  rights  of  mankind 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  7 

were  planted,  in  our  oppressed  and  long  degraded  world, 
when  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth,  peace  and 
good  will  toward  men,''''  it  took  root,  under  the  fostering  agen- 
cy  of  our  father,  Washington  ;  and  being,  at  the  same  time, 
benignly  shielded  by  the  God  of  Nations,  in  a  congenial  soil, 
and,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord,  so  that  in  a  few  years, 
it  grew  up  to  man's  estate ;  and  may  heaven  grant  that  this 
plant  of  civil  renown,  may  spread  its  healing  branches,  like 
the  oaks  of  Bashan,  and  rear  its  altitude  above  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  and  drop  its  restoring  fruit,  like  a  benign  catholicon, 
over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  till  wars  and  oppression 
shall  cease.) 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  the  sailor  stood  in  the 
hall,  musing  in  his  mind  for  a  few  moments,  on  the 
wonderful  things  that  he  saw,  he  very  soon  ascertained 
that  the  ostensible  object  which  drew  the  citizens  to  the 
hall,  was  West's  Picture  of  Christ  Rejected.  [And 
while  converging  his  marine  vision,  on  that,  of  all 
others  the  most  interesting  scenery,  which  to  this  day 
has  ever  been  presented  to  the  physical  and  mental 
vision  of  dying  men,]  Captain  Onesimus  paused  for  a 
while,  and  a  representation  of  this  little  work  passed  be- 
fore his  mind,  as  he  stood  viewing  this  very  interesting 
exhibition,  which  soon  elevated  his  marine  ideas  to  an 
altitude  of  mental  astonishment,  at  the  pugnacity  and 
irascibility  which  existed  in  the  Jews,  with  Caiaphas 
their  High  Priest  at  their  head,  in  their  rejecting  their 
own  legitimate  and  lawful  Messiah. 

After  the  vision  had  passed  away,  the  Captain's 
mind  was  so  far  illuminated  that  he  clearlj'  saw  writ- 
ten on  the  telegraph  of  the  children  of  Israel's  national 
character,  in  letters  of  wo,  the  sins  of  their  High  Priest 
exhibited  before  the  eye  of  God  and  men,  in  a  second 
rejection  of  Christ;  that  is,  after  he  arose  from  the 
dead. 

Now,  this  is  the  sin,  which  of  all  others  doth  so  much 
imbue  the  character  of  those  unbelieving  people  with 
the  principles  of  the  most  deteriorating  turpitude  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven ;  which  brings  on  them  the  most  con- 
stuperating  disease,  and  places  them  in  the  most  de- 


O  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

grading  condition ;  and  has  spread  itself  as  an  awful 
contagion  through  the  whole  of  the  Israelitish  tribes, 
which  continues  like  an  hereditary  complaint,  from 
father  to  son,  through  all  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  down  to 
the  present  time — so  that  this  awful  malady  and  foul 
leprosy,  has  spread  its  insidious  influence  on  all  the 
juvenile  branches  of  the  unbelieving  family:  namely, 
the  Deists  and  Atheists  of  modern  times. 

When  the  sailor  left  the  old  Congress  Hall,  and  was 
again  ambulating  the  streets  of  the  city,  he  found  his 
mind  to  be  povv^erfully  at  work,  pre-excogitating  a  plan 
so  as  to  have  this  strange,  and  at  the  same  time  most 
unreasonable  and  absurd  report,  that  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  to  this  day,  had  ever  been  presented 
to  the  audibility  of  intelligent  and  rational  beings,  to 
w^it :  that  the  disciples  of  Christ,  who  were  at  that  time 
only  eleven  in  number,  should  be  able  to  overpower  a 
strong  Roman  guard,  with  some  deadly  influence,  and 
then  steal  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre. When  the  Captain  in  a  soliloquy,  solemnly  be- 
gan to  excogitate — Can  it  be  possible,  that  rational  and 
intelligent  beings,  such  as  the  nation  of  the  Jews  ap- 
pear to  be,  when  you  have  any  thing  to  do  Vvith  them 
about  the  value  of  the  gold  of  Ophir,  or  commerce  of 
any  kind,  they  betray  no  lack  of  legal  knowledge. 
But  yet  they  continue  to  this  day  to  reject  the  claims 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  their  promised  Messiah,  on  such  an 
illegal  and  sleepy  tale:  And  that  our  wise  scientific 
gentlemen  of  the  Deistical  school,  are  such  a  set  of 
blinded  beings  as  to  follow  the  pusillanimous  and  credu- 
lous Jews,  in  their  deteriorating  wake,  (which,  like 
the  antediluvian  world,  is  every  day  growing  worse,) 
and  deleterious  course,  to  the  sea  of  eternal  w'o.  So 
that  both  the  Jews  and  Deists  of  our  modern  times,  are 
found  committing  suicide  on  their  rational  powers,  and 
foolishly  fighting  against  the  mercy  and  benevolence 
of  God,  in  redeeming  a  sinful  world,  by  the  death  and 
atonement  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Captain  continues  his  soliloquy  or  mental  para- 
ble, and  said  to  himself,  It  is  nothing  but  sheer  justice 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  9 

to  the  character,  honour,  and  declarative  glory  of  God, 
and  the  immortal  interest  of  all  mankind,  that  this 
stealing  business  should  be  thrown  into  some  court, 
having  plenary  powers  within  its  legal  purlieu^  {that 
is  full  authonty  within  its  legal  circle,)  and  before  a 
competent  tribunal,  possessing  sufficient  judicial  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  so  as  fully  to  try  this  long  undecided 
cause,  and  disputed  point  loith  the  Jews,  and  finally  put 
to  rest  this  sleepy  tale,  of  the  eleven  disciples  stealing 
the  body  of  a  crucified  man,  from  under  the  iron  grasp 
of  the  martial  law,  and  strict  discipline  of  the  Roman 
array.  The  Captain  said  to  himself,  such  a  sleepy  tale 
may  answer  well  enough  for  the  nation  of  the  Jews  and 
wise  Deistical  philosophers;  but  it  will  in  no  wise  be 
satisfactory  to  the  mind  of  Onesimus,  the  Christian 
sailor:  when  by  this  time  he  arrived  at  the  wharf, 
nearly  opposite  to  where  his  gospel  ship  of  the  line,  lay 
at  anchor,  and  made  a  signal  for  the  barge  to  take  hiin 
on  board.     April  10,  1830. 


Figure  1.— The  city  of  Philadelphia. 

Fig.  2. — Captain  (Jnesimus  leaving  the  city  and  going  on  ship 
board,  to  write  Christ  Rejected  by  the  Jews,  and  Ueists  of  modern 
times;  and  the  trial  of  the  eleven  disciples,  as  charged  with  robbing 
the  sepulchre  of  the  erucified  body  of  Qbrist, 

Fig-.  3— Gospel  ship  ot  tti^  M^ 


10  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

The folloiDing  plate  is  designed  to  represent  the  Jewish  nation, 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans,  as  loos- 
ing its  national  visibility  ;  and  under  a  dark  and  mysteri- 
ous dispensation  of  the  Providence  of  God,  retiring  from 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Under  the  figure  andper- 
sonification  of  Balaam,  the  prophet  retiring  from  the  office 
of  premiership  in  the  cabinet  of  infidelity. 


The  Jewish  Nation's  first  Letter  to  the  Deists. 
My  liege,  sovereign  and  venerable  Father — May  you 
ever  live  and  sway  a  regal  sceptre  over  all  the  worlds 
of  nature,  in  the  golden  age  of  reason  and  philosophy. 
The  which,  great  sire,  your  old  prophet  and  premier  sees 
through  his  new  telescope,  (of  carnal  wisdom,)  by  the 
light  he  receives  from  that  new  orb  of  refulgent  glory. 


Figure  1. — 13alaam  returns  from  the  grand  court  of  infidelity,  to 
Aram;  then  goes  up,  on  one  of  the  high  mountains  in  the  east,  and 
offers  up  his  burnt  sacrifice  to  the  new  philosophical  gods  in  the 
age  of  reason. 

Fig.  2  — Balaam  on  his  observator}'',  viewing  through  his  telescope 
the  marvellous  things  in  the  heavens  of  the  age  of  reason. 

Fig.  3. — The  farm-house  in  which  he  goes,  after  he  comes  down 
from  the  mountain,  and  writes  the  following  letter  to  his  younger 
brother  the  Deist;  whom  he  addresses  as  the  sovereign  prince  of 
Infidelity. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  1 1 

that  shall  appear  in  your  philanthropic  heavens,  which 
at  times  enables  your  old  prophet  by  the  powerful 
afflatus  of  your  gods,  to  see  distinctly  your  rising 
glory :  which  leads  me  calmly,  and  at  the  same  time 
prudently  to  look  ahead,  and  wisely  forecast,  from  the 
marvelous  signs  which  I  see  in  that  brilliant  Phospho- 
rus which  shall  arise,  sire,  on  your  kingdom,  with  all 
its  majestic  grandeur,  in  those  glorious  times,  so  long 
(by  some  of  your  faithful  servants  the  philosophers,) 
foretold,  that  you  will  experience,  mighty  prince,  as 
you  descend  the  longitude  of  time,  and  observe  the 
evolutions  of  states,  kingdoms,  and  empires,  all  gliding 
away  into  oblivion,  as  they  obreptitiously  depart  from 
the  shore  of  mundane  glory,  under  a  nebulous  that 
always  spreads  itself  over  the  cymmerian  valley  of  death, 
and  bidding  adieu  to  all  transactions  under  the  sun,  and 
are  lost  in  the  blue  sea  of  annihilation.  But,  sire,  in- 
dulge me  to  inform  you,  that  I  experience  at  this  mo- 
ment an  indescribable  degree  of  mental  pleasure,  in 
being  authorized  by  your  new  gods  to  communicate  to 
your  Highness,  that  the  most  plenary  felicity  will  over- 
take your  peaceful  reign,  so  that  the  blessings  thereof 
shall,  like  pregnant  clouds,  rise  out  of  the  sea  of  human 
reason,  guided  by  the  helm  of  Science,  under  the  polar 
star  of  philosophy,  and  by  the  agency  of  your  new 
gods,  stretch  themselves  athwart  your  kingdom,  and 
like  a  canopy  over  the  horizon  of  your  vast  empire. 
After  which,  this  new  orb  will  burst  forth  with  a  ra- 
diance of  mental  light,  and  pour  down  such  refulgent 
coruscations  of  philosophical  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
on  the  minds  and  understandings  of  your  liege  subjects, 
followed  by  the  perennial  streams  of  mundane  felicity. 
So  that  your  subjects  may  then  sing  that  elegant 
stanza,  that  some  of  your  old  poets  have  versified :  "  let 
us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  w^e  die."  But  espe- 
cially, great  prince,  on  those  privileged  orders  which 
constitute  the  partrician  grades  of  your  kingdom ;  so 
that  I  can  irrform  your  benign  highness,  that  those  per- 
ennial blessings  will  be  most  felicitously  associated  with 
the  pure  fire  on  the  civic  altar,  which  are  before  the  new 


12  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

gods.  Now  this  favour  will  be  conveyed  by  the  hand  of 
the  obedient  and  condescending  goddess,  who  will  gently 
place  the  civic  fire  on  the  hearts  and  tongues  of  all  your 
liege  subjects;  the  which,  royal  prince,  will  operate  like 
the  magic  power  of  the  electric  fluid,  so  that  it  will  soon 
communicate  the  most  pure  philanthropy  and  unabat- 
ing  zeal  in  all  the  benevolent  minds  of  your  liege  sub- 
jects, with  the  love  of  all  mankind,  to  an  acme,  which, 
sire,  will  sooner  or  later  overflow  the  purlieu,  and  wash 
away  the  line  of  demarcation  that  many  a  weening 
and  sanctified  moralist,  has,  from  time  to  time,  placed 
round  the  plenary  fountains  of  the  tangible  happiness 
of  your  subjects. 

But,  sire,  when  these  golden  days  shall  have  arrived, 
your  princely  vision  shall  behold  the  glowing  fervour 
of  their  new  love,  issuing  forth  like  refreshing  streams 
in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land.  So,  sire,  shall  these  new 
fountains  and  meandrous  streams  of  philanthropic  zeal 
and  philosophical  love,  fertilize  the  land^  and  bless  the 
subjects  of  your  empire  with  such  new  and  burning 
light,  that  it  will  very  soon  advance  the  mental  energies 
of  the  human  mind,  that  has  been  too  long,  ere  this  day, 
bound  down  by  the  iron  bars  of  that  slavish  supersti- 
tion, called  divine  worship.  Yes,  may  it  please  your 
august  majesty,  these  glorious  mental  energies,  that 
before  this  were  unknown  to  mankind,  which  your 
felicitous  subjects  shall  then  experience,  shall  give  them 
herculean  powers  of  mind,  when  your  liege  and  en- 
lightened subjects  shall  march  forth  under  the  unfurled 
and  flowing  banners  of  human  reason,  armed  with  the 
new  panoply  of  the  inexpugnable  doctrine  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  age  of  reason  ;  which  will  soon  cause  the 
final  emancipation  of  all  men,  from  the  galling  yoke 
and  servile  bondage  of  what,  sire,  is  called  revealed 
religion,  which  has  laid  its  taxes  so  onerously  on  the 
innocent  congress  of  our  passions,  with  every  desirable 
object  that  comes  within  the  purlieu  of  the  tangibility 
of  our  felicitous  nature. 

May  it  please  your  benign  highness,  to  graciously 
indulge  your  premier  and  now  humble  servant,  to  ap- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  13 

proach  the  lowest  step  of  your  throne,  over  which  I  see, 
through  the  telescope  of  your  new  doctrine  of  reason 
and  philosophy f  a  bright  cloud,  indicative  of  all  the 
most  excellent  qualities  of  philanthropy  and  benignity, 
which,  sire,  so  richly  forms  the  elements  of  your 
princely  mind. 

And  may  your  royal  patience  indulge  your  very 
faithful,  but  now  denuded  [that  is,  to  divest  or  strip 
himself  of  all  merit  and  excellency  in  the  presence  of 
his  sovereign,  which  by  the  indulgence  of  the  reader, 
permit  the  stenographer  to  add,  is  the  imperious  duty 
of  every  dying  sinner,  in  the  sight  and  presence  of  Al- 
mighty God  :]  servant,  humbly  to  present  this  epistle  at 
the  feet  of  my  legitimate  sovereign ;  in  the  which,  great 
sire,  I  wish  to  ease  my  labouring  mind,  and  humbly, 
through  the  medium  of  my  pen,  to  convey  before  your 
royal  mind,  my  unfeigned  acknowledgments  for  past, 
but  at  the  same  time  unmerited  favours:  and  be  pleased 
to  accept,  royal  prince,  the  most  profound  homage  of 
my  highest  consideration,  for  the  manifold  benefits  that 
from  time  to  time,  under  your  providence,  during  my 
very  long  but  eventful  life,  of  which  I  have  been  the 
unmerited  recipient.  And  now,  may  it  please  your 
benign  highness,  to  graciously  accept  the  most  un- 
feigned and  devout  prayer  of  his  old  prophet,  (the 
Jewish  nation,)  for  the  safety  and  felicity  of  your  royal 
person  ;  the  which  shall  be  always  most  ardently  asso- 
ciated with  my  sincere  desires  and  best  wishes  for  your 
public  prosperity.  And  when  I  call  into  grateful  re- 
membrance, sire,  that  as  your  old  prophet  and  national 
premier,  it  was  my  daily  duty  to  offer  up  those  burnt 
sacrifices,  that  your  multiform  gods  had  commanded, 
on  all  the  public  acts,  and  other  special  emergencies 
and  great  enterprises,  of  my  sovereign's  heretofore  pros- 
perous reign.  You  will,  no  doubt  remember,  sire,  that 
in  consequence  of  my  prophetic  calling,  with  the  func- 
tions that  are  involved  in  a  prophetic  office,  it  became 
my  imperious  duty  to  intercede  with  the  gods,  that 
their  special  favour  and  over-ruling  providence,  might 
foster  and  bless  all  your  wise  and  prudent  schemes,  and 

B 


14  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

laudable  enterprises.  But,  I  experience,  sire,  that  the 
insidious  inroads  of  time,  have  passed  over  my  head, 
and  the  once  glory  of  my  meridian  climax  of  past 
years,  is  obreptitiously  gliding  off  the  northern  declivity 
of  life ;  so  that  I  now  begin  to  experience,  that  the  oner- 
ous duties  and  anxious  cares  of  public  business,  is  more 
than  the  daily  depreciating  energies  of  my  mental  and 
physical  faculties  will  be  able  any  longer  to  sustain, 
with  due  fidelity  to  the  interest  of  your  administration ; 
and  with  personal  honour  to  my  own  character,  these 
few  considerations  lead  me,  as  in  a  mirror,  to  observe 
a  conscientious  regard  to  your  interest ;  and  my  own 
credit  also,  leads  me  to  see  it  to  be  my  imperious  duty, 
to  obediently  and  humbly  resign  into  the  hand  of  the 
benign  donor,  my  premiership,  in  order  to  retire  from 
the  anxious  cares  of  public  life ;  and  go  to  my  hermi- 
tage, at  Aram,  on  the  mountains  in  the  east,  in  the  land 
of  Pithor,  in  order,  that  my  bones  may  rest  in  the  se- 
pulchre of  my  forefathers. 

A  note  by  the  Stenographerr 

[This  part  of  the  allegory  is  intended  to  set  forth  the  Jew 
ish  nation  and  priesthood,  under  a  strange  and  mysterious  dis' 
pensation  of  the  wisdom  and  Providence  of  Almighty  God, 
as  passing  under  a  nebulous  dispensation;  so  that  in  their 
political  character,  they  have  entirely  disappeared  from  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  And,  as  the  old  prophet,  in  his  resign- 
ing his  public  office  to  his  master,  with  a  view  that  his  lord 
may  induct  into  the  office  (which  it  was  his  ardent  desire  to 
vacate,)  a  more  efficient  person  to  take  his  place ;  this  fea- 
ture of  the  metaphor,  is  designed  to  place  before  the  reader's 
mind,  the  overruling  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the  Most 
High  ;  so  that  by  a  concatenation  of  his  Almighty  power  and 
providence,  over  which  the  Jewish  nation  had  no  pliysical 
controul,  to  withdraw  its  visibility,  as  the  outward  church  of 
God  in  this  world,  in  order  that  the  church  of  Christ,  chiefly 
built  up  of  Gentile  converts,  might  take  its  place.  This  is 
conveyed  in  the  idea  which  Balaam  places  before  his  sover- 
eign's mind,  that  a  younger  person  of  more  wisdom,  know« 
ledge  and  talents,  may  succeed  him  in  office.] 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  15 

August  and  great  prince ! — As  I  have  before  said  in 
this  letter,  that  the  insidious  ravages  of  time  imperi- 
ously admonish  me  that  I  cannot  much  longer  sustain 
the  official  duties  and  anxious  cares,  which  daily  involve 
with  public  life;  therefore,  the  profound  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  my  royal  master,  of  men  and  things,  will 
no  doubt  clearly  see,  with  your  humble  and  obedient 
servant,  that  it  is  my  imperious  duty,  from  a  sense  of 
honour  to  myself,  as  a  public  officer,  as  well  as  that  of 
a  conscientious  fidelity  and  regard  which  I  experience 
within  the  purlieu  of  my  mind,  for  your  national  pros- 
perity, to  humbly  and  quietly  w^ithdraw^  from  public 
"^life ;  in  order,  sire,  to  give  place  to  some  one  of  your 
majesty's  liege  subjects  to  fill  the  vacany,and  discharge 
the  onerous  duties  incumbent  on  the  two  highest  offices 
in  the  purlieu  of  your  cabinet.  And,  as  I  have  already 
said,  that  I  experience  an  ardent  desire  to  rest  my 
ashes  in  the  urn  of  my  fathers. 

And  now,  august  prince,  indulge  me  to  remark,  in 
the  spirit  of  unfeigned  sincerity,  that  if  at  any  time 
during  your  antecedent  reign,  my  agency  has,  through 
my  official  functions  as  a  premier  and  prophet,  under 
your  administration,  or  that  my  public  services  have 
in  the  least  degree,  been  either  subservient,  or  instru- 
mental in  the  enlargement,  interest,  prosperity  and  de- 
clarative glory  of  your  kingdom,  a  sense  of  the  same, 
will,  I  humbly  trust,  greatly  enlarge  my  almost  over- 
flowing exchequer  of  gratitude,  when  I  shall  arrive  at  my 
lonely  cottage  in  the  vineyard  at  Aram,  on  the  moun- 
tains of  the  east,  in  the  land  of  Pithor :  so  that  when 
there,  I  trust  a  lively  sense  of  those  honours  your  pro- 
vidence favoured  me  with,  shall,  sire,  be  as  daily  in- 
cense rising  from  off  the  altar  of  my  grateful  heart :  that 
when  I  approach  the  ancient  altars  of  my  fathers,  I 
shall  there  offer  up  my  best  wishes,  devout  supplication 
and  fervent  intercessions,  for  the  future  enlargement, 
interest,  and  increasing  glory  of  your  kingdom.  But, 
I  shall  carry,  sire,  these  grateful  reflections  along  with 
me  to  my  lonely  cottage  in  the  east  country,  as  a  rich 
harvest  to  feast  my  mental  faculties  on  in  my  declining 


16  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

years ;  that  when  the  evening  of  life  shall  locate  its 
sombre  shades  on  my  earthly  tabernacle,  as  I  dwell  in 
my  lonely  abode;  so  that  when,  on  some  auspicious 
summer's  eve,  as  I  sit  in  my  old  auguring  chair,  in  the 
hall  of  my  hermitage,  and  the  evening  zephyrs  in  some 
measure  relieve  me  from  the  lassitude,  brought  on  my 
old  tabernacle  by  the  oppressive  heat  of  a  long  sum- 
mer's day ;  or  sire,  when,  during  the  solstice,  in  the  long 
evenings,  a  venerable  sage  from  some  neighbouring 
vineyard,  should  pay  me  a  friendly  and  social  visit — it 
will  feast  my  mind  to  a  degree  of  satiety,  when  in  some 
desultorious  vocabulary,  I  shall  be  led  to  give  a  sud- 
den turn  to  the  colloquial  entertainment. 

I  shall,  illustrious  prince,  place  before  my  neighbour's 
mind,  a  thousand  incidents  of  the  marvellous  things 
which  took  place  during  that  period  of  your  reign, 
under  which  I  had  the  unmerited  honour  to  fill  the 
office  of  prophet  and  premier ;  to  tell  over  to  my  listen- 
ing friend,  from  a  neighbouring  cottage,  the  plenary 
goodness  that  my  lord  bestowed  on  me,  in  return  for 
my  limited  talents  and  circumscribed  capabilities ! 

Yes,  sire,  while  my  pen  is  recording  these  predomi- 
nating hieroglyphics  of  a  social  entertainment  with  a 
neighbouring  sage,  when  those  soul-reviving  views  and 
grateful  reflections,  I  trust,  under  the  most  sensible  af- 
flatus from  the  new  heavens,  in  which  dwells  your  new 
gods  of  human  reason  and  philosophy  !  Yes,  great  and 
illustrious  prince,  these  shall  be  the  unfeigned  reflec- 
tions of  my  mind,  whenever  I  take  a  humble  view  of 
my  plebeian  birth,  and  an  excursive  survey  of  my  low-, 
breeding  in  the  land  of  my  fore  fathers,  among  the  pots ; 
or  treading  out  the  clay,  to  mould  the  bricks  that  built 
the  pyramids  of  ancient  Egypt.  But  these  things  your 
highness  well  knows,  without  my  dictatorship,  in  as- 
suming the  office  of  a  prompter,  to  inform  the  wisdom 
and  good  sense  of  your  royal  honour. 

But,  illustrious  prince,  I  experience  the  want  of 
richer  ideas,  and  a  more  copious  language  than  that 
which  my  vernacular  tongue  and  poor  mundane  cate- 
gories aftbrd  me,  in  this  nebulous  dispensation,  so  as  to 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  17 

relieve  the  undulating  labour,  and  safely  deliver  the 
struggling  fetus  in  my  mind;  in  order  to  make  a  plen- 
ary expose  of  this  cardinal  point  of  your  benign  conde- 
scension, towards  your  old  liege  subject ;  and  indulge 
your  denuded  servant  to  state,  that  often  times  such  a 
deep,  and  almost  overwhelming  sense  of  your  past 
favours,  like  fear  and  shame,  in  some  delicate  physical 
cases,  throws  back  my  labouring  mind  into  the  elemen- 
tary purlieu  of  a  nascent  state;  so  that  the  struggling 
fetus  stands  in  need  of  the  supramundane  power  and 
wisdom  of  some  of  your  new  philosophical  gods,  to  come 
and  relieve  the  burden  of  my  labouring  mind,  by  be- 
nignly bestowing  some  angelic  vocabulary,  or  the  lan- 
guage which  the  gods  make  use  of,  in  reciprocating 
their  ideas  to  each  other.  And,  illustrious  prince,  (of 
modern  infidelity,)  when  I  take  an  excursive  survey  of 
the  philanthrophy  and  grace  of  your  philosophical  gods 
towards  me,  that  they  should  have  enabled  me,  in  any 
tolerable  degree,  to  have  sustained  the  outward  dignity 
of  the  various  functions  of  the  highly  responsible  offices, 
as  your  chief  premier,  or  prime  minister  of  state,  and 
priest  and  prophet  of  your  national  mythology,  causes 
me  to  bow  at  the  sacred  altar  of  your  gods,  with  the 
most  profound  reverence. 

And  I  now  shall  ascribe  the  whole  of  your  favour 
and  kindness  towards  me,  to  be  an  act  of  your  sover- 
eign pleasure  and  free  volition  of  your  benign  mind ; 
and  thereby,  the  royal  indulgence  of  my  sovereign  lord 
and  master,  will  your  very  devoted  and  unworthy  ser- 
vant, most  profoundly,  and  reverently  leave  it  with  you 
forever.     Amen, 

Accept,  royal  prince,  the  most  profound  homage  of 
my  highest  consideration,  for  your  personal 
felicity  and  princely  glory.  Signed  at  my  cot- 
tage, in  the  vineyard,  at  Aram,  on  one  of  the 
mountains  of  the  east,  in  the  land  of  Pithor. 

BALAAM. 

To  faa  excellency  Doctor  Deist,  President  of  the  coUege  of  the  age  of  reason, 
■where  modem  Plulosophy,  Infidelity  and  the  plenary  science  ofunbeUef, 
are  all  gratuitously  taught, 

December  31,  1831. 

b2 


18 


CHRIST  REJECTED, 


The   Jetvish  nation's  second  letter  to  the  Deists  of  modern 
Christendom:  after  a  silence  of  eighteen  hundred  years. 

This  letter  sets  forth  the  Jewish  nation,  after  waiting  for  the 
camiig  of  their  promised  Messiah,  as  becoming  uneasy  at  his- 
I'fHg  delay  ;  and  in  the  language  of  their  old  prophet  Isaiah, 
asking  the  watchman  What  of  the  night?  or,What  is  the  latent 
cause  of  this  long  dispensation  of  darkness  over  our  nation? 
which  is  set  forth  in  this  letter,  under  the  metaphor  or  per- 
sonification of  Balaam  the  prophet,  in  consequence  of  the 
ravages  of  time  making  some  serious  inroads  on  his  constitu- 
tion— to   become  a  little  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  death ; 


V:g-iire  1 .  The  Jewish  prophet  Isaiah,  on  one  of  the  higli  moun- 
tains in  tlie  land  of  Israel,  looking  for  the  dawning  of  the  day  of 
their  national  prosperity,  when,  the  Jewish  nation  shall  suddenly 
em'vge  from  under  the  sombre  clouds  of  national  disgrace. 

Fig.  2.  Balaam  the  prophet,  who  is  on  his  watch-tower,  asking 
Isaiah  the  prophet,  as  the  watchman  of  Israel,  What  of  the  night  ?  or, 
What  i^  tlie  cause  of  this  long  dispensation  of  darkness,  being  loca- 
ted over  them  as  a  nation  ?  When  the  prophet  informs  him,  that  the 
morning  star  of  immortality  is  just  above  the  horizon,  and  it  will  soon 
be  break  of  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  19 

which  finally  leads  Balaam  to  open  and  renew  his  epistolary 
correspondence  with  his  old  friend  the  Deist.  And  after  a 
polite  apology  for  not  writing  for  eighteen  hundred  years, 
the  old  prophet  Balaam  expatiates  on  the  present  condition 
of  mankind,  and  the  immortaUty  of  the  soul. 

Dear  Kinsman, 

"  No  doubt  you  have  thought  it 
very  strange  at  my  not  sending  you  a  few  lines,  ere  this 
long  lapse  of  time ;  but  I  shall  heavily  tax  my  friend's 
patience,  and  pray  him  not  to  suffer  the  calm  sea  of 
his  philosophical  mind  to  become  undulated  by  the 
blasts  of  impatience,  so  as  to  lead  him  to  impugn  the 
motives  of  my  delinquency,  as  rising  out  of  the  least 
depreciation  of  my  cordial  adhesion  to  your  new  doc- 
trines of  modern  philosophy ;  nor  any  cooling  of  my 
warm  attachment  to  your  person,  nor  the  slightest  di- 
minution of  my  high  esteem  for  your  friendship,  and 
due  respect  and  profound  veneration  for  your  charac- 
ter. But  suffer  me  once  more  to  levy  on  your  patience, 
with  a  short  history  of  the  cause ;  while  I  inform  you, 
that  the  latent  cause  of  my  neglect,  in  not  keeping  up 
a  regular  interchange  of  ideas,  through  the  medium  of 
epistolary  correspondence  with  my  highly  esteemed 
friend,  arises  out  of  a  cause  that  for  many  years,  was  not 
under  my  controul :  that  is,  a  severe  indisposition, 
which  has  of  late  years  so  entirely  disqualified  my  mind 
from  inditing,  and  in  a  great  measure  embargoed  my 
hand  (that  once  held  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,)  from 
writing.  But,  having  experienced  a  wish  to  renew 
with  my  much  esteemed  friend,  our  former  familiar 
correspondence,  and  now  having  fairly  stated  the 
cause  that  has  produced  my  delinquency,  it  would 
therefore  be  extremely  superfluous,  and  almost  presump- 
tion on  my  part,  any  longer  to  embargo  your  philo- 
sophical wisdom  with  a  lengthy  apology,  for  my  not 
corresponding  with  you  for  eighteeen  hundred  years  ; 
as  I  gratuitously  presume  that  your  wisdom  and  good 
sense,  in  taking  ari  oblique  view  of  the  physical  and 
mental  causes  of  my  apparent  aberration  from  re- 


20  CHRIST  REJEC?TED. 

ciprocal  friendship,  will  lead  you  to  make  a  much  bet- 
ter extenuation  for  my  not  writing  till  this  late  hour 
in  the  day,  or  rather  years  of  my  life,  than  I  can  make 
for  myself  with  ink  and  pen. 

"  And  now  my  dear  kinsman,  I  must  enter  on  the 
nebulous  and  painful  subject  I  have  in  view ;  and  in 
confidence  communicate  to  you,  that  as  1  draw  near 
the  end  of  the  voyage  of  my  earthly  existence,  when 
at  times  I  see  the  dark  and  pregnant  clouds  of  adver- 
sity, as  they  stretch  themselves  over  all  the  dreary 
mountains,  that  are  seen  along  the  iron-bound  coast  of 
death  ;  which  admonishes  me,  that  my  days  in  this 
mundane  dispensation  Vvill  shortly  come  to  an  end. 

"And  indulge  me  to  inform  you,  that  during  the  many 
years  that  I  have  withdrawn  from  public  life,  {that  is, 
the  church  of  the  Jews,  which  han  lost  its  visihility  in  this 
world,)  that  often  times,  the  nebulous  clouds  have,  for 
years  together,  located  themselves  over  the  lofty  moun- 
tains in  the  east,  or  wherever  the  winds  of  time  have 
driven  me;  when  at  sea  or  on  land,  the  pitiless  storms 
have  come  down  on  my  tent;  so  that  of  late  years,  in  con- 
sequence of  my  exposure  to  heat  and  cold,  wet  and  dry, 
my  earthly  tabernacle  has  been  for  many  years  deter- 
iorating, and  the  ratiocinating  faculties  have  become 
so  vulnerable,  that  I  cannot  any  longer  hold  a  strong 
argument  on  the  abstruse  points  of  the  doctrines  in  your 
new  Philosophy,  with  that  acumen  I  once  could  do, 
when  I  served  as  the  chief  counsellor  in  your  cabinet : 
so  that  there  is  a  general  decay  of  all  the  radical  facul- 
ties of  body  and  mind.  I  have  for  near  eighteen  hun- 
dred years,  given  up  my  old  study  of  Theology,  of  Law 
and  Government ;  and  time  has  brought  a  state  of  lassi- 
tude on  my  mental  powers,  which  has  lowered  its  acme, 
down  to  the  yellow  and  pale  elements  of  silver  and  gold, 
and  the  jewels  of  the  east ;  and,  indeed,  almost  every 
article  of  commerce  in  this  world.  In  these  things, 
myself  and  the  whole  of  my  nation  that,  with  me,  are 
scattered  abroad  throughout  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  have  been  our  chief  study ;  ever  keeping  in  mind 


CHRIST  REJECTEU,  21 

the  old  adage  :  that  the  Goldfinch  in  the  hand,  is  worth 
two  of  those  speculative  birds,  in  an  extra  mundane 
bush  or  dispensation,  (that  is,  the  souPs  interest  in 
another  wWd.) 

"  But,  kinsman,  my  exposure  to  so  many  conflicting 
elements,  has  brought  on  me  at  times,  chilling  agues, 
burning  fevers,  with  a  variety  of  rheumatic  and  other 
pains  ;  so  that  whenever  labouring  under  any  of  these 
maladies,  in  long  winter  nights,  when  the  balmy  god- 
dess of  sleep  spreads  her  treacherous  wings,  and  leaves 
me  to  turn  from  side  to  side  on  my  restless  bed ;  par- 
ticularly after  I  have  come  out  of  one  of  the  paroxysms 
of  a  high  fever,  which  has  often  been  the  case  during 
my  late  indisposition.  It  was  my  friend,  at  these  seas- 
ons, that  the  soul-distressing  idea  of  our  immortality, 
as  it  ivere,  almost  involuntarily  introduced  itself,  so 
very  unceremoniously,  into  the  drawing  room  of  my  weak 
and  fevered  mind  ;  and  then  onerously  leading  me,  so 
very  contrary  to  the  natural  volition  of  my  will,  to 
think  of  death  and  take  an  oblique  glance  at  the  moral 
accountability  of  the  children  of  men,  to  the  great  land- 
lord aloft,  for  our  words  and  actions  in  this  world. 
Methink  I  hear  my  philosophical  kinsman  say,  these  are 
nothing  but  physical  weaknesses  ;  and  you  should  have 
taken  a  few  drops  of  my  catholicon  of  philosophical 
materialism,  and  it  would  have  eased  your  distress  al- 
most instantaneously. 

"But  ray  dear  philosophical  brother  of  the  new  school, 
I  have  long  since  made  it  my  undeviating  practice, 
whenever  I  go  to  sea,  or  take  a  journey  by  land,  to 
have  a  sufficient  quantity  of  your  philosophical  panacea 
put  up  in  my  medicine  chest ;  and  whenever  any  pains 
attack  me,  it  is  the  first  thing  I  have  recourse  to  :  but 
I  have  taken  it  so  often,  that  of  late  years  it  produces 
only  a  transcient  effect.  It  is  true,  I  have  in  former 
days  experienced  great  relief  from  your  modern 
panacea ;  but  on  account  of  my  frequent  use  of  it,  my 
system  has  become,  like  those  who  are  in  the  continual 
habit  of  drenching  themselves  with  laudanum — so  that 
what  formerly  relieved  the  fever  in  a  few  moments, 


32  CHRIST  RSJECTISD. 

now  produces  but  a  mere  momentary  suspension  of 
my  pains. 

I  have  o[  late  years  bestowed,  as  I  lie  restless  in  my 
birth,  some  analytical  thoughts  on  the  various,  and  I 
was  ready  to  say,  (if  I  thought  my  philosophical  kins- 
man would  not  view  it  as  irrelevant,)  conflicting  ele- 
ments of  which  your  7iew  catholocon  is  compounded : 
that  is,  I  find  it  must  be  kept  warm  and  dry,  or  else  it 
possesses  a  natural  predilection  to  decompose,  into  its 
primitive  elements ;  especially  in  cloudy  days  and  a 
humid  atmosphere.  That  is  to  drop  my  trope,  it  does 
not  appear  to  be  congenial  to  a  sick-bed,^  or  the  hours 
of  affliction.  Therefore  my  analytical  corollary  is, 
that  yo\iY  philosophical  panacea  is  better  suited  for  the 
complaints  of  a  drawing-room,  where  there  is  always  a 
dry  atmosphere. 

•'  I  well  remember  the  felicitous  effects  of  your  new 
medicine,  for  many  years,  when  I  was  a  member  of 
your  court ;  but  pardon  me  for  telling  the  truth — that 
your  philosophical  panacea  of  materialism,  is  a  poor 
medicine  in  a  sick  room,  or  on  a  dying  bed !  But  still  I 
can  assure  my  philosophical  friend,  that  notwithstand- 
ing your  new  medicine  has  not  had  its  desired  eftect 
on  my  system,  I  still  go  on,  to  do  all  I  can  to  divest  my 
mind  of  the  gloomy  ideas  and  distressing  images,  about 
a  something  that  lies  beyond  the  verge  of  this  mundane 
dispensation,  (that  is,  a  future  state,)  which  awaits  us 
poor  mortals,  when,  my  honest  friend,  we  shall  slip  the 
cable  of  life,  and  pass  the  straits  of  death,  into  the  blue 
sea  of  eternity. 

"I  shall  now  take  it  as  gratuitously  granted,  on  the 
part  of  my  friend,  from  my  long  and  familiar  acquain- 
tance with  the  elementary  habits  of  your  mind,  even 
from  your  infant  days,  when  I  first  discovered  those 
precocious  signs  of  the  altitude  of  that  wisdom  and 
philosophical  knowledge,  which  the  meridian  of  our 
day  has  made  manifest. 

[*  Reader^  whoever  thou  art,  beware  of  a  sick-bed  re 
pentance.ll 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  23 

"And  still  following  my  old  profession  of  a  prophet,  1 
shall  augur  that  what  I  am  about  to  ask,  will  be  con- 
ceded to  on  your  part ;  that  is,  to  wit :  that  your  good 
sense  will  not  be  offended  at  my  entire  departure  from 
the  flattering  style  and  etiquette  of  courts  ;  but,  that 
your  candour  will  indulge  me,  while  I  shall  continue 
to  correspond  on  this  most  unwelcome  subject,  (that  is 
to  us)  of  the  soul's  immortality — you  will  indulge  me 
to  write  with  freedom ;  and  I  shall  then  be  at  full  lib- 
erty to  communicate  all  my  ideas  to  you,  in  a  confiden- 
tial and  familiar  manner.  Yes,  my  philosophical  friend, 
I  experience  the  fullest  affiance,  that  your  good  sense 
will  not  only  grant  me  this  indulgence,  but  that  your 
wisdom  will  rather  approve,  than  censure  the  course, 
I  have  thus  marked  out  as  a  polar  star,  to  steer  the 
pen  of  my  future  ideas,  while  on  the  unpleasing  subject 
of  the  soul's  immortality,  with  our  moral  accountability 
to  the  great  ones  aloft. 

"  I  now  having  obtained,  1  presume,  your  philanthro- 
pic indulgence,  to  communicate  my  views  on  this  very 
unfashionable,  but  nevertheless,  serious  topic,  by  laying 
aside  all  that  altitude  of  court  distinction,  which  the 
axioms  of  courts,  and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  have 
established,  between  the  subject  and  his  prince,  from 
time  almost  immemorial,  shall,  by  mutual  consent,  be 
dispensed  with.  And  now,  my  dear  friend,  having 
made  all  the  apologies  I  conceive  to  be  necessary,  or 
that  appear  becoming  on  the  solemn  catastrophe  that 
takes  place  in  the  article  of  death ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  I  am  well  aware,  that  it  is  a  subject  that  neither 
kings,  princes  nor  courts,  are  over-anxious  to  hear,  nor 
in  the  words  of  any  language,  to  dwell  long  on  this 
alarming  subject.  And  now  my  philosophical  friend, 
having  taken  my  departure  from  a  postulatory  light- 
house, (that  is  any  argument  or  position  without  irre- 
fragable proof,)  I  shall  proceed  to  steer  my  ship,  and 
navigate  my  pen,  over  the  undulating  sea  of  the  sup- 
posed doctrine  of  immortality — by  communicating  my 
views  in  the  most  apt  and  congruous  language,  and  fa- 
miliar ideas,  that  I  have  with  my  limited  powers  of  rea- 


24  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

son  and  argument,  the  command  of;  while  my  gloomy 
fancy  shall  be  led  to  take  an  excursive  survey  of  this 
dolorous  subject. 

"Dear  kinsman,  of  the  deistical  school,  having  with 
my  entering  wedge,  endeavoured  to  open  the  massy 
doors  of  your  philosophical  reflection,  on  this  subject, 
whether  true  or  false,  it  should  not  deter  us  from  a  calm 
and  candid  investigation  of  the  distressing  idea,  which 
immortality,  and  our  personal  accountability  to  holy 
ones,  brings  with  it ;  to  the  which,  I  experience  a  most 
anxious  desire  to  invite  your  sublime  attention ;  which 
I  shall  first  do,  by  placing  before  your  view,  a  little  in- 
cident of  my  own  experience,  during  my  late  distress  ; 
and  the  storms  through  which  I  have  passed,  to  wit : 
During  some  of  the  long  winter  nights,  in  my  old  age, 
as  I  lie  in  my  weather-beaten  barque,  off  the  dreary 
coast  of  death,  I  dreamed  that  the  Idng  of  terror  sent 
one  of  his  piratical  ships,  under  a  heavy  press  of  sail, 
driven  by  the  furious  blasts  from  the  dark  clouds  of  ad- 
versity, which  were  accompanied  with  the  red  light- 
ning, and  rumbling  thunder's  dismal  roar,  sent  forth 
from  the  fiery  magazine  of  sin  and  death,  with  his 
crimson  flag  flying  at  his  royal  mast  head,  and  the 
crew  of  the  ship  with  their  boarding  pikes  in  their 
hands,  ready  to  board  us,  as  soon  as  the  treacherous 
blast  and  the  insidious  waves  of  time,  shall  heave  the 
piratical  ship  with  her  savage  crew  on  board,  along- 
side ;  and  then  throw  their  cold  grappling-irons  on 
board  our  poor  barque  of  life. 

"  The  foregoing  picture  of  old  age,  with  death  in  view, 
said  to  be  a  dream,  1  can  assure  my  philosophical  friend, 
is  almost  a  fac  similie  of  my  own  experience,  in  some 
of  the  late  storms  through  which  I  have  passed.  And 
I  can  most  confidently  assure  you,  that  the  dream  is 
only  used  as  a  figure  or  metaphor,  to  bring  to  your 
view,  precisely  my  own  case. 

"  Dear  friend,  of  the  deistical  school,  after  looking 
through  the  old  fashioned  telescope  of  common  sense, 
at  the  gloomy  telegraph,  which  presents  to  our  view 
the  dark  and  distressing  condition  of  the  human  race — 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  25 

in  old  age,  I  am  rather  led  to  this  conclusion,  that  with 
all  the  fine  things  you  tell  us,  in  your  doctrines  of  modern 
philosophy,  and  the  wonderful  cases  of  convalescence 
which  your  new  Panacea  has  effected,  yet,  I  perceive, 
they  all  deteriorate  to  the  dust — confirming  an  im- 
perious categorical  dogma,  of  an  old  historical  writer, 
'*  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return." 

Now,  dear  brother,  of  the  new  philosophical  school, 
when  your  plenary  wisdom  and  knowledge  can  com- 
pound a  healing  Panacea,  that  can  cure  this  universal 
hydrophobia,  called  death — for  the  which  rabid  disease, 
our  surviving  friends  have  to  smother  us  all  under  a 
bed  of  earth  ;  so  that  I  am  almost  ready  to  say  of  your 
new  Catholicon,  which  you  say  is  a  mere  compound  of 
human  reason  and  philosophy,  is  too  much  like  a  "  sound- 
ing brass  or  tinkling  cymbal;"  and  that  the  whole  of  the 
human  family  still  deteriorates  till  it  gets  into  the  grave, 
in  consequence  of  this  disease  :  Yes  !  the  same  as  they 
did  before  your  schools  of  modern  philosophy  discover- 
ed this  wonderful,  this  universal  restorative.  So  that, 
my  philosophical  friend,  your  healing  Panacea  moun- 
tain, has  not  to  my  knowledge,  given  a  solitary  blessing 
to  our  mundane  condition,  in  removing  this  rabid  dis- 
ease or  hydrophobiacal  distress  from  us,  as  large  as  a 
dormouse.  This  injudicious  manner  of  arguing  on  the 
subject,  you  are  ready  to  say,  I  do  not  much  admire  ; 
because  it  simplifies  the  wonderful  arcanum  of  the 
philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  almost  to  the  low  alti- 
tude of  the  elements  of  common  sense :  it  being  the 
elementary  sea,  where  the  great  herd  of  plebeians  swim; 
so  that  I  view  your  manner  or  mode  of  argument,  ob- 
jectionable, or  at  least  I  cannot  admit  its  relevancy,  on 
the  ground,  that  it  is  too  highly  seasoned  with  vulgar 
ideas. 

Well,  dear  kinsman,  be  that  as  it  may,  about  my  low 
thoughts  and  plebeian  ideas,  one  thing  perhaps  with  me 
you  will  admit :  that  our  new  philosophical  gods  treat 
us,  at  least  very  unfeelingly ;  and  of  late,  while  I  was 
passing  under  much  distress,  both  of  body  and  mind,  I 
was  almost  ready  to  say  at  times,  very  unceremoniously. 

c 


35  CIIIUST  REJECTED. 

I  think  I  hear  you  say,  stop  your  gloomy  reflections ; 
they  no  doubt  arise  out  of  the  acme  of  your  fevered 
mind;  as  the  rabid  disease  plays  on  the  sensorium 
where  all  our  thoughts  and  ideas  are  said  to  take  their 
rise.  Granted — and  be  that  as  it  may,  I  ask  my  philo- 
sophical friend,  if  that  alters  the  case  one  ioto  ?  for 
whether  we  argue  upon  the  subject  and  consequence 
of  death,  in  the  verbose  language  of  a  philosopher,  or 
the  nouns,  pronouns,  verbs  and  articles  of  a  plebeian, 
yet  the  evil  and  rabid  malady  remains ;  so  that  all  the 
philosophical  drapery  of  words  and  ideas,  do  not  re- 
move the  hydrophobia  from  us.  Then  I  shall  presume 
that  my  ground  or  position  is  tenable,  so  that  I  have  a 
right  to  onerously  charge  our  philosophical  gods,  as 
dealing  hard  with  us  ;  and  after  we  have  spent,  what 
we  call  a  long  and  eventful  life,  oftentimes  almost  over- 
charged with  anxiety  of  mind,  associated  with  the  most 
assidious  exercise  of  all  our  physical  and  mental  ener- 
gies. Therefore,  when  I  seriously  reflect  on  the  hard 
condition  of  mankind,  which  I  have  done  during  the 
gales  and  other  tempestuous  weather  that  I  have  passed 
through  in  the  decline  of  life ;  and  especially  in  the  long 
winter  nights  of  old  age,  when  my  chronick  pains  pre- 
vented me  from  sleeping,  I  have  been  for  hours  togeth- 
er thinking  of  the  nature  and  character  of  our  new 
philosophical  gods ;  or,  if  your  enlightened  mind  does 
not  admire  my  using  the  word  god,  then  I  would  say, 
my  philosophical  friend  and  brother,  by  whatsoever 
name  we  call  the  grand  agency,  that  propels  and  rules 
the  great  and  sublime  works,  and  wonderful  machinery 
aloft,  and  at  the  same  time,  all  the  lesser,  but  marvel- 
lous apparatus  of  nature  below. 

Now,  brother,  whether  it  is  (as  one  old  Moses  says) 
a  wise  and  intelligent  agent  above,  or  what  you  call  the 
eternal  laws  of  inert  matter,  that  gives  such  regular 
and  consecutive  movements  to  suns,  moons,  stars,  and 
to  the  seasons  of  the  year,  as  well  as  to  ten  thousand 
times  ten  thousand  other  beings,  of  which  we  are  igno- 
rant of,  both  in  the  physical  and  metaphysical  laws  of 
nature;  notwithstanding  the  transient  appearance  to 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  27 

US,  at  times,  of  an  anomalous  departure  and  small  ab- 
erration from  the  fixed  and  general  laws,  that  we  see 
so  clearly  demonstrated  in  the  larger  bodies  of  matter  : 
For  instance,  suns  and  worlds  without  number,  which 
all  appear  to  move  on  in  regular  order.  But  I  must 
candidly  confess,  with  my  philosophical  friend,  that  in 
the  condition  of  man,  both  physically  and  morally,  there 
is  a  continual  mutation,  from  the  fetus  in  the  elements 
and  purlieu  of  gestation,  to  the  dark  location  beyond 
the  straits  of  death.  Notwithstanding  all  the  sanitary 
measures  of  the  deistical  board  of  health,  by  the  advice 
of  the  Cymmerian  physicians.  Carnal  Reason  and  Vain 
Philosophy  have  adopted.  So  that  under  all  these  mul- 
tiform exhibitions,"'  which  our  present  physical,  mental 
and  moral  condition  places  us  in,  before  the  serious  re- 
flections of  a  sane  mind,  it  still  remains  a  mystery.  And, 
my  philosophical  brother,  however  richly  embellished 
our  minds  may  be,  with  all  the  flowing  drapery  of 
science ;  with  the  unfurled  banners  of  our  new  philoso- 
phy, there  still  hangs  over  the  condition  of  mien,  in  this 
earthly  state  of  being,  a  Cymmerian  canopy,  the  con- 
stituent parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  remains,  to  us 
mortals,  an  inexplicable  mystery. 

But,  my  dear  kinsman,  to  resume  our  former  idea, 
whether  it  be  volatile  chance,  blind  fate,  or,  dear 
brother,  your  more  favorite  position ;  that  is,  the  un- 
conscious laws  of  inert  matter,  that  rules  and  is  at  the 
head  of  this  vast  administration  of  beings,  of  worlds 
without  number,  I  shall  not  at  this  time,  nor  in  this 
letter,  undertake  categorically  to  decide.  Or  whether, 
my  philosophical  friend,  there  is  an  all-wise,  righteous 
and  intelligent  being,  whose  wisdom,  knowledge,  power 
and  divine  providence,  is  at  the  head  of  the  whole  ad- 
ministration, I  have  not  been  able  with  my  whole 
nation,  for  these  last  eighteen  hundred  years,  to  expe- 
rience a  full  aflfiance  of  heart  to  make  the  declaration, 
so  as  to  decide  the  case  at  issue.  But,  my  philosophi- 
cal brother,  be  it  whom,  or  what  it  may,  that  steers  the 
worlds  and  navigates  the  great  ship  of  nature,  we,  my 
philosophical  brother,  as  poor,  humble  wretches,  have  tQ 


28  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

go  below  and  be  well  battened,  (that  is,  barred  down 
below,  in  the  hole  of  the  dungeon  of  death,)  there  to 
smell  the  nauseous  bilge-water,  in  the  gloomy  prison- 
ship,  forever. 

So  you  see,  my  deistical  kinsman,  we  dying  wretches 
have  the  dead-hill  of  reckoning  to  pay,  as  we  go  down 
through  the  lonely  and  dreary  channel,  and  dark  and 
wintery  straits  of  death — we  know  not  where :  as  a 
captain  of  the  Roman  Empire  exclaimed,  when  he  ar- 
rived off  the  coast  of  death,  and  the  current  of  his  fever 
being  so  strong,  that  the  united  skill  of  all  his  attend- 
ant physicians  could  not  prevent  his  ship-of-life  from 
being  carried  into  the  blue  sea,  called  eternity: — when 
in  his  expiring  moments,  just  as  the  glory  of  his  earthly 
dispensation  was  fast  receding  from  his  vision,  after 
wielding  an  earthly  sceptre  for  a  few  years,  over  the 
largest  kingdom  that  has  to  this  day  come  under  the 
knowledge  of  men ;  namely :  the  Roman  Empire,  in  his 
sombre  condition,  he  groaned  out  this  dirge,  or  sung  this 
canticle  on  board  his  old  crazy  ship  of  life,  just  as  he 
passed  the  straits  of  death : 

"  Whither,  ah  !  whither  art  thou  flying  1 

To  what  dark  undiscovered  shore  ? 
Thou  seemest  all  trembling,  shivering,  dying — 

And  wit  and  humour  are  no  more." 

But,  I  think  T  hear  my  philosophical  friend  ready  to 
say,  my  elder  kinsman,  the  Jew,  is  going  fast  into  an 
insane  state  of  mind  in  his  old  days,  to  think  so  much 
about  the  soul's  immortality  !  Say  to  these  nebulous 
ideas,  besrone !  and  let  the  things  of  this  mundane  state 
give  you  plenary  satisfaction. 

True,  my  young  philosophical  brother,  I  would  w^ith 
the  fullest  altitude  of  pleasure,  flow  into  the  wake  of 
your  counsel,  if  it  were  not  for  some  twitches  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  my  heart,  and  alarming  fears  in  the 
region  of  my  conscience,  which  often  keeps  me  awake 
in  my  birth,  as  I  lie  tempest-tossed ^  on  the  undula- 
tory  sea  of  life,  in  my  old  days.     But  your  philosophic 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  29 

cal  wisdom  and  good  sense  clearly  sees,  that  all  my 
fears  rise  out  of  the  sea  of  mere  pre-nominating  conjec- 
ture, that  are  entirely  predicated  on  a  postulatory  foun- 
dation ;  that  is,  a  mere  problematical  position,  without 
irrefragable  proof — arising  out  of  a  poor  affected  old 
man's  dernier  hypothesis,  that  there  may  be  some  state 
of  existence  and  accountability  beyond  the  verge  of 
time.  But  no  more  at  present  on  this  unfelicitous  sub- 
ject, as  the  sun  of  my  life  is  but  a  few  degrees  above 
the  horizon  of  time  ;  and  my  old  weather-beaten  barque 
is  now  labouring  in  a  head-sea  of  old  age,  tempest-tos- 
sed by  the  contrary  winds  of  pain  and  other  infirmities, 
giving  a  cross  and  crazy  action  to  my  old  ship-of-life — 
the  winds  at  the  same  time  blowing  from  every  point 
of  the  compass,  so  that  writing  is  exceedingly  unpleas- 
ant. But  if  this  squall  should  pass  over  without  found- 
ering my  crazy  barque,  and  my  physical  and  mental 
faculties,  should  be  so  far  convalescent  as  to  justify  my 
handling  the  pen,  I  will  write  to  you  again  my  further 
thoughts  on  the  postulatum  of  the  soul's  immortality. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  esteem,  permit  me 
to  remain  your  old  faithful  friend,  and  near 
kinsman,  in  the  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  im- 
mortality. 

BALAAM. 

To  Ms  sublime  excellency  Doctor  Deist,  President  of  the  college  of  tlye. 
glorious  age  of  reason ;  -where  modem  Philosophy,  Infidelity  and  the 
sublime  doctrine  of  unbelief  are  all  benignly  and gratuitotisly  taught. 

January  31,  1832. 


30 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


Tlie  third  letter  to  the  Deist  of  modern  Christendom. 
In  this  letter  is  set  forth,  under  the  metaphor  of  Balaam, 
the  increasing  uneasiness  of  the  Jewish  nation,  at  the  delay 
of  their  promised  Messiah  ;  under  the  idea,  that  the  pro- 
phet experiences  an  increase  of  the  infirmities  of  old  age  ; — 
and  in  this  letter  to  his  deistical  friend,  the  old  Jew,  he 
obliquely  glances  at  the  person  of  Christ. 

Dear  Kinsman, 

I  have  had,  since  writing  last,  to 
encounter  many  a  furious  blast  from  the  dark  clouds 
that  hang  over  the  coast ;  and  the  frightful  promonto- 
ries which  stretch  themselves  along  the  dreary  shore  of 


Fig-  1.  The  Prophet  Isaiah  standing  on  one  of  the  towers  of  mount 
Zion,  proclaiming-  Christ  unto  the  Jews,  as  their  promised  and  law- 
ful Messiah. 

Fig".  2.  The  Jewish  nation,  under  the  idea  of  a  prophet,  on  the 
top  of  his  castle,  on  the  coast  of  adversity  ;  over  which  is  spread  the 
heavy  clouds  of  tlie  displeasure  of  heaven,  again  asking- Isaiah  the 
prophet,  AVhat  of  thenig-ht?  or,  wliat  is  the  cause  that  this  dark 
cloud,  so  indicative  of  the  frowning  Providence  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
hangs  so  long  over  iiis  people  ? 

No.  3,  The  ship  arrives  within  a  few  leagues  of  the  coast  of  death, 
with  Balaam  on  board,  in  great  distress,  as  a  figure  of  the  Jewish 
nation. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  31 

death,  have  greatly  dismantled  my  old  barque,  both  in 
her  sails,  spars  and  rigging ;  so  that,  oftentimes,  my  old 
ship  is  wallowing  in  the  trough  of  the  sea — and  every 
now  and  then  shipping  a  considerable  quantity  of  sea 
water,  (that  is  unbelief;)  so  that  with  the  crazy  action 
of  the  ship,  it  has  caused  the  nauseous  water  to  wash 
about  the  keelson  and  floor  timbers  of  my  heart ;  (that 
is,  the  trying  dispensation  of  God's  Providence  towards 
the  Jews,  made  them  very  irascible,  at  passing,  for 
eighteen  hundred  years,  under  so  many  adverse  dispen- 
sations;) so  that  several  times  during  the  late  storm,  I 
was  very  near  led  to  adopt  my  kinsman's  soul-sleeping 
corollary,  in  order  to  refresh  my  alfactory  nerves,  as 
an  odoriferous  nosegay,  to  keep  me  from  fainting,  in 
consequence  of  the  stench  of  the  bilge-water  that  floats 
about  my  heart.  The  flowers  of  this  philosophical  nose- 
gay, are  as  follows  :  to  wit;  that  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  men,  are  in  the  aggregate,  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
beings  of  mere  circumstances ;   so  that,   when  their 
physical   and  mental  faculties,  which  they  possess  in 
this  earthly  dispensation,  in  common  with  other  ani- 
mals, are,  in  consequence  of  the  deleterious  ravages  of 
time,  decomposed  in  the  analytical  operation  of  death. 
I  have  been  led,  in  some  of  my  wakeful  and  tedious 
hours,  as  I  lie  in  my  birth,  on  ship-board,   looking  at 
the  doctrine  of  your  modern  philosophy,  and  viewing 
the  figures  on  your  new  telegraph ;  which  say,  that 
there  is  such  an  analogous  adhesion,  in  what  your  new 
doctrine  calls  the  eternal  laws  of  matter,  so  that  the 
once  amalgamated  elements,  which  constituted  the  hy- 
}X)statical  nature  of  man,  does,  at  his  death,  under  the 
general  law  of  mutation,  return  to  its  original  elements, 
and  is  lost  in  what  your  new  philosophy  calls  1^'qy\o\jlI 
nal  reflux  of  all  those  elements,  that  once  cor^^  ^^   ^ 
the  individuate,  and,  as  I  have  just  said,  the  hy^^     i  _ 
cal  nature  of  man  ;  of  which  he  is  but  a  small  ,  pj|J|Q_ 
nant  part ;  so  that  all  the  elements  and  faculti|      ^^^ 
constituted  him,   will  be  forever  lost— like  a^  minds 
water,  when  it  shall  have  become  amalgam n;  „c  th^ 
the  vast  ocean.     These   thmcrs  hav«^   ^ 


32  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

passing  through  my  mind,  as  I  lie  sleepless  in  my  birth, 
during  the  late  gale  ;  when  I  was  led  to  this  conclusion, 
that  man,  obreptitiously  glides  away  in  the  process  or 
article  of  death,  and  is  lost  forever,  in  the  cardinal  ele- 
ments that  once  constituted  his  mundane  existence.  If 
this  be  the  case,  my  deistical  kinsman,  what  a  most 
happy  release  from  all  our  anxious  cares  we  experience, 
while  sailing  through  the  voyage  of  life.  So  that  my 
friend's  good  sense,  under  the  guidance  of  philosophi- 
cal wdsdom,  clearly  sees  with  me,  that  in  that  case 
man  will  forever  end  all  his  turmoil  on  earth  ;  and  as 
a  dernier  remuneration  for  three  or  four  score  years' 
labour  and  anxiety  of  mind.  What  a  glorious  boon,  my 
philosophical  brother,  shall  this  be,  and  most  desirable 
issue,  to  be  presented  with  the  soft  pillow,  filled  with 
the  finest  down  of  eternal  sleep,  to  lie  his  weary 
head  upon,  so  as  to  take  his  last  and  long  doze  to  wake 
no  more.  Which,  my  brother,  will  be  a  fine  feather  in 
our  philosophical  caps,  far  more  glorious  than  the  white 
ostrich  feather,  that  Alexander  wore  at  the  head  of  his 
conquering  legions ! 

Yes,  my  kinsman,  it  is  certainly  a  most  noble  and 
manly  idea,  for  us  wise  ones  of  the  earth,  to  adopt ;  and 
of  course,  it  will  give  us  Jews  and  Philosophers,  if 
true,  a  decided  pre-eminence  over  the  cringing  devo- 
tees at  the  altar  of  revealed  religion. 

And  w  hile  my  mind  experiences  an  excursive  mood, 
another  category  darted  through  my  disordered  brain, 
which  I  heard  about  one  Christ,  a  pedestrious  theolo- 
gian, when  he  w^as  travelling  through  the  land  of  Judea; 
who  at  times,  called  himself  the  Son  of  the  most  high 
God.     It  is  true,  I  never  got  a  view  of  his  person,  but 

f  1 M  s*s^^  "P  ^  ^^^  ^^X^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  Jerusalem,  and 
Fi^.  2.  "IS  a  continual  ingress  and  egress  of  the  citizens 
top  of  hisngers  at  that  place  of  renown,  and  it  being  my 
heavy  cl(  habit  to  travel  in  disguise,  and  appear  like  an  old 
cloud  *^Ldn^^">  many  of  them  held  a  desultorious  conver- 
hangs'soibout  the  man,  whom  some  called  a  prophet; 
No.  3,  '^i  i  he  was  a  deceis^er;  and  by  his  magic,  held 
m?o^*^**""  "- 'th  the  blackest  and  most  constuperating 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  33 

of  the  demons :  and  that  he  was  spreading  a  spirit  of  ef- 
fervescence among  the  people.  These  conflicting  ideas, 
which  the  citizens  and  strangers  at  Jerusalem  enter- 
tained of  this  pedestrious  theologian,  led  me  to  pay 
some  attention  to  what  was  said  about  the  man ;  and 
of  course,  some  told  the  most  strange  and  marvellous 
things  about  him,  that  were  ever  before  reported  of 
any  being  in  human  form.  Others  said,  he  was  an  art- 
ful magician,  and  hath  a  demon,  or  what  they  called  a 
devil.  But  as  I  left  the  city  shortly  after,  and  have 
not  paid  Jerusalem  a  visit  for  many  years,  the  man 
with  his  marvellous  and  magic  arts,  whether  true  or 
false,  as  the  case  may  be,  passed  from  my  mind;  and  this 
person  whom  they  called  a  prophet,  or  deceiver,  accord- 
ing to  the  views  they  entertained  of  his  works,  and 
character. 

So  that  all  thoughts  of  his  person  have,  for  the  last 
eighteen  hundred  years,  slipped  my  memory,  until 
the  late  storm ;  when  in  some  of  my  restless  hours,  the 
image  of  the  man  and  his  marvellous  works,  when  the 
paroxysms  of  my  fever  had  a  little  subsided,  came  fresh 
into  my  mind ;  but  especially,'  his  calling  himself  "  the 
lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda  ;"  'Which  was  followed  by  this 
thought,  that  if  that  be  true,  and  he  should  nod  his 
lion-like  head,  and  shake  his  angry  curls  or  majestic 
mane  at  us  and  our  new  Panacea  of  modern  philosophy, 
with  all  the  fine  things  we  have  in  view,  and  our 
fine  goXvn  of  matei^alism,  and  wedding  garments  of 
eternal  sleep,  it  would,  in  our  case,  my  young  brother, 
be  a  full  illustration  of  the  moral  of  the  poor  girl  and 
her  spilt  milk. 

But,  I  hope  we  shall  never  have  to  experience  the 
realization  of  the  milk  maid's  folly  :  so  that  at  last,  both 
you  and  I,  should  from  the  stern  law  of  imperious 
necessity,  be  coerced  to  admit  the  relevancy,  in  a 
moral  and  religious  point  of  view,  of  the  poor  ple- 
beian young  lady's  disappointment:  and  Jews  and  Philo- 
sophers, as  the  vulgar  adage  is,  would  be  bringing  our 
young  ones  to  a  fine  market ;  and  our  chagrined  minds 
would,  in  the  end,  be  as  greatly  disappointed  as  the 


34  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

little  maid,  when  she  saw  that  her  fine  gown  was  gone 
forever.  So  in  the  case  alluded  to,  if  this  lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Juda  should  turn  out  to  be  the  true  Messiah, 
and  Judge  of  all  men,  we  with  our  new  robe  of  eternal 
sleep,  shall  be  fully  as  much  chagrined  as  the  poor  dis- 
appointed girl. 

Thus  endeth  the  moral  of  the  young  maid,  as  a  milk 
Panacea,  to  ease  the  stomach  of  our  modern  men  of 
wisdom. 

I  hope  my  philosophical  friend  will  not  open  the 
valve  of  his  reprehensibility  so  wide,  as  to  let  the  steam 
of  his  risibility  wash  away  the  moral  of  the  milk  maid's 
fable  entirely  from  his  philosophical  mind. 

But  to  return  to  my  mournful  condition  off  the  straits 
of  death  : — 1  beg  my  kinsman  to  indulge  me  to  place  a 
little  epitome  of  my  fevered  reflections  in  his  view — 
which  are  as  follows  :  That  if  I  could  but  persuade  my- 
self of  the  validity  of  your  new  doctrine  of  eternal 
sleep,  and  rest  plenary  satisfied  with  what  is  commonly, 
by  the  religious  and  superstitious  herd  of  mankind, 
called  soul  and  body ;  that  in  case  it  should  be  indulg- 
ed by  the  fates,  to  take  it^^Ibng  dose,  under  the  Cym- 
merian  pavilion  forever/1  in  ll\e.  anti-chamber  of  his 
royal  highness,  called  th^dumg93f  terrors.  Now,  my 
philosophical  brother,  if  I  dare  trust  my  weak  and  frail 
judgment,  I  do  most  ardently  wish  to  place  the  most 
plenary  affiance  in  your  new  doctrine  o^  eternal  sleep, 
and  the  decomposition  of  all  the  elements  and  faculties 
of  our  nature,  in  the  cardinal  elements  of  this  mundane 
dispensation.  But,  my  philosophical  friend,  your  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  well  knows,  without  my  assuming 
the  office  of  a  dictator  and  the  almonership  of  a  prompt- 
er, to  inform  you,  which  I  well  know,  is  a  cardinal 
position,  and  undeviating  hypothesis  of  your  new  Philo- 
sophy; that  man  is  a  being  or  creature  of  circumstances: 
This  you  admit  to  be  the  case — Well  then,  your  phil- 
anthropy will  of  course  indulge  me  with  my  share 
of  the  circumstantial  prize  money,  and  permit  me  to  in- 
form you,  although  you  are  well  apprised  of  my  Jewish 
education,  which  by  the  wise  and  (if  it  is  not  irrelevant 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  35 

to  State,  I  would  add,)  crafty  ingenuity  of  those  who 
had  the  care  and  guardianship  of  my  juvenile  years — 
during  which  time  they  so  often  drenched  me  with  the 
salts  of  conscience,  and  other  purgative  powders,  to 
purify  my  mind  from  what  they  called  idolatry;  and 
at  the  time  to  write  in  indelible  characters  on  the  tele- 
graph of  my  heart,  the  belief  of  a  holy  God,  who  steers 
the  great  ship  of  nature ;  so  that  at  times,  in  the  long 
and  dark  nights,  when  my  mind  takes  an  oblique  view 
through  what  I  have  passed  for  the  last  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  of  public  disgrace,  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  I  am,  by  the  pressure  of  the  cloudy  atmosphere, 
which  has  located  itself  over  and  round  about  my  na- 
tional tabernacle,  ready  to  exclaim :  "  let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 
Thus  my  brother  sees  his  own  doctrine  verified  in  my 
case — that  we  are  in  many  cases  the  beings  or  creatures 
of  circumstance.  Nevertheless,  my  philosophical  kins- 
man, when  I  have  the  full  command  of  the  volition  of 
my  mind  and  will,  under  the  administration  of  my  judg- 
ment, which  daily  sits  in  council  with  the  three  cardinal 
passions  of  my  nature — his  learned  excellency,  the 
pride  of  life;  and  chief  counsellor  the  desire  of  the  eye  ; 
and  his  sensual  highness  the  lust  of  the  flesh;  in  these 
seasons  of  the  (though  very  often  transient)  convales- 
cent state  of  the  mind,  I  go  to  work,  and  take  some  of  the 
drops  and  powders  you  have  in  your  philosophical  eoo- 
pose  of  healing  medicine,  and  your  new  catholicon: 
I  shall  name  a  few  of  them,  from  the  compendious  cata- 
logue that  lies  on  my  medicine  chest  before  me,  while 
writing  this  letter  :  namely,  powder  No.  1.  no  God; 
(so  saith  the  fool  in  his  heart.)  No.  2,  no  spit-it  noi^ 
angel.  No.  3,  no  Immortality.  No.  4,  no  conscien- 
tious sense  of  our  moral  accountability  to  heaven,  for 
our  words  and  actions  on  earth.  No.  5,  no  Heaven. 
No.  6,  no  Hell.  And  No.  7,  which  has  long  been  Idbk- 
ed  upon  as  a  perfect  number,  which  I  perceive  is  mark- 
ed on  your  new  and  universal  Panacea,  no  Christ  of 
Plebeian  birth — for  the  Saviour  of  mankind  and  univer* 


36  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

sal  judge  of  the  words  and  works  of  all  men,  nor  for 
the  national  Messiah  of  the  Jews. 

I  experience  it  to  be  my  duty  to  inform  my  deistical 
kinsman,  that  whenever  I  feel  those  dreadful  pains  of 
conscience,  I  have  made  the  most  faithful  application 
of  your  drops,  powders,  and  new  Panacea ;  which  as  I 
once  stated,  give  but  momentary  relief.     But  the  ad- 
monitions of  conscience,  returns  sometimes  with  great- 
er violence  than  before  the  use  of  your  philosophical 
prescriptions.     Notwithstanding,  my  dear  brother,  and 
most  confidential  friend,  I  would  most  cordially  and 
heartily  adopt  your  soothing  creed,  as  the  orthodox 
dogmas  of  my  Jewish  faith,  if  it  were   not  for  some 
agency,  with  which  I  am  somewhat  unacquainted — at 
least  so  much  so,  as  to  be  able  categorically  to  define 
its  true  character  ;  whether  it  does  proceed  altogether 
from  my  Jewish  education,  or  from  a  something  that  I 
cannot  well  describe ;  the  which,  one  old  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  and  all  our  rabbles,  doctors  and  Jewish 
theologians,  call  by  the  name  of  conscience :  this  un- 
welcome intruder,  be  it  what  or  whom  it  may,  I  find  it 
is  not  always,  under  my  entire  control.     And  as  I  lie  in 
my  birth,  tempest-tossed,  in  those  long  winter  nights, 
•my  pains  at  times,  were  very  acute,  so  that  balmly 
sleep  very  often  spreads  its  wings,  as  I  before  said,  leav- 
ing me  wreaking  with  pain,  and  exceedingly  distressed 
in  mind.     Now  this  troublesome  agent,  by  whom  sent 
or  from  what  source  it  came,  I  shall  not  at  this  time 
take  it  on  me,  in  writing  to  my  philosophical  friend, 
dogmatically  to  decide.     Nevertheless,  I  experience  at 
this   moment,   that   this  gloomy  subject  has  already 
brought  on  me  such  a  state  of  both  mental  and  physical 
lassitude  over  my   old  tabernacle,  on  board  the  old 
barque,  which  now  lies  in  sight  of  the  dreary  coast  of 
death — so  that  in  consequence  of  this  small  exertion  of 
my  fevered  mind  and  nervous  fingers,  it  imperiously 
coerces  me  to  retire  into  my  birth ;  and  if  I  should  here- 
after become  so  far  convalescent  as  to  be  able  once 
more  to  overhaul  the  goose  quill  again,  I  have  in  the 
purlieu  of  my  mind,  something  more  to  say  about  those 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


37 


things,  which  by  some  are  said  to  be  associated  with 
the  grim  monster  death. 

Suffer  me  to  remain,  with  sentiments  of  the  highest  es- 
teem for  your  friendship,  and  sincere  regard  for 
your  personal  happiness. 

BALAAM. 

To  his  serene  highness  Doctor  Deist,  President  of  the  College  of  modern 
Philosophy,  Deism  and  Infidelity — nohe^e  the  sublime  science  of  unbe- 
lief are  berugnly  and  gratvitously  taught. 

February  2S,    1832. 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  iron-bound  mountains  and  dreary  coast  of  death,  with 
the  cross  of  Christ  located  at  the  entrance  of  the  lonely  straits,  which  lead 
into  the  blue  sea  of  eternity ;  so  that  no  vessel,  whether  she  sails  under  Jew- 
ish Christirtn,  Atheistical  or  Ueistical  colours  can  pass,  without  being 
brought  too,  by  the  officers  of  the  n  yal  custom-house  of  King  Jesus. 

No.  2.  The  Watchman  on  the  tower,  looking  out  for  all  the  ships  fr(Mia 
the  different  nations  of  the  earth,  as  they  approach  the  straits  of  death. 

No.  3.  The  custom-house  boat  sent  off  to  examine  the  papers  and  cargo 
of  the  vhip. 

Xo.  4.  The  old  barque,  with  Balaam  on  board,  (that  is  the  Jewish  nation) 
whic'ri  through  the  stress  of  weather  is  almost  ready  to  founder. 

No.  5  .  Mount  Calvary  and  the  three  crosses. 

No.  6.  The  dark  clouds  and  lightning;  indicative  of  a  frowning  provi- 
dence being  over  the  Jewish  nation,  for  eighteen  hundred  years;  and  at  last 
through  stQrms  and  distress,  is  brought  to  reflect  on  the  Man  that  Pilate  an- 
eified. 


38  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

The  Jewish  nation's  fourth  letter  to  the  Deist  of  modern 
Christendom, 

In  this  letter,  the  Jewish  nation  is  set  forth  as  becoming  a 
little  more  calm  in  their  passions,  and  their  national  hostility 
against  Christ  a  little  to  subside ;  and  at  last  they  experience 
a  latent  desire  to  go  into  an  examination  with  the  Deists  of 
Christendom,  so  far  as  words  and  an  interchange  of  ideas  on 
the  subject  will  go  to  decide  the  claims  of  Christ  to  the  Mes- 
siahship  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  under 
the  metaphor  or  idea  of  Balaam  the  Prophet's  fever  of  mind 
increasing,  and  his  mental  and  physical  indisposition,  and 
other  infirmities  of  advanced  age,  making  the  most  serious 
approaches  on  his  constitution :  so  that  his  sleep  is  often  dis- 
turbed at  the  prospect  of  death  ;  in  consequence  of  some 
dreams,  in  which  the  person  of  Christ  is  presented  to  his 
view,  hanging  on  a  cross,  at  the  entrance  of  the  straits  of 
death.  When  the  Jewish  nation,  under  the  personification 
of  a  prophet,  becomes  more  diffuse  in  his  language  about  the 
character  and  person  of  Christ ;  and  then  puts  his  philosophi- 
cal friend  in  mind  of  their  hard  speeches  against  his  official 
character,  and  their  invidious  opposition  to  his  claims  ;  with 
all  their  former  insidious  reflections  on  his  person,  and  a  vast 
number  of  other  witty  puns  and  sarcasms  ;  which  in  their 
juvenile  days  they  did  conjointly,  with  a  rich  flow  of  their 
risibility,  so  profusely  lavish  on  his  person  and  character. 
But  death,  and  the  blue  sea  of  eternity  heaving  in  sight,  aU 
things,  but  especially  the  Man  on  the  cross,  begin  most  alarm« 
ingly  to  change  their  appearance. 

Dear  Kinsman  ^ 

Since  I  wrote  to  you  last,  at 
which  time  my  old  ship-of-life  was  overtaken  with  a 
heavy  squall,  not  many  leagues  off  the  dreary  coast  of 
death,  so  that  it  remained  very  problematical  in  my 
mind,  whether  the  old  barque  would  outride  the  storm ; 
however,  it  hath  pleased  the  powers  that  are  aloft,  (by 
whatsoever  name  we  in  this  earthly  state  may  give 
them,  that  over-rules  and  directs  the  storm,  or  bids  the 
tempest  cease,)  to  keep  my  old  ship  above  water  during 
the  late  gale  ;  so  that  my  life  is  given  me  as  a  prey  to 
mine  infirmities  a  little  longer.     And  as  I  have  the  rays 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  39 

of  the  sun  once  more  in  this  mundane  state,  and  my 
health  is  in  some  degree  convalescent,  I  shall  try  to  put 
into  practice  the  old  country  people's  adage ;  make  hay 
while  the  sun  shines  ;  that  is,  I  will  endeavour  to  re- 
deem my  pledge,  of  renewing  the  unfelicitous  subject, 
which  I  only  slightly  touched  on,  in  my  last  sea  letter. 
As  I  was  then  labouring  under  a  high  state  of  both 
physical  and  mental  lassitude,  I  had  consequently  to 
throw  down  my  pen,  and  retire  sea-sick  into  my  birth. 
Since  then,  my  mind  has  been  greatly  agitated;  so  that  it 
has  led  me  at  intervals,  especially  when  the  paroxysms 
of  my  fevered  mind  were  a  little  abated,  to  more 
seriously  reflect  about  that  man  who  Pilate  put  to 
death  on  the  cross.  Therefore,  my  philosophical  friend, 
indulge  your  once  old  counsellor,  to  be  a  little  more 
verbose  and  communicative  in  placing  the  category  of 
his  mind  before  you;  so  that  I  may  open  my  thoughts 
to  you  on  this  gloomy  subject,  without  reserve ;  that  is, 
the  immortality  of  the  children  of  men  ;  and  also,  that 
strange  catastrophe,  which  is  the  consequent  counter 
part,  on  which  my  mind  clearly  sees  that  it  is  the  great 
turning  point,  on  which  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality 
of  the  whole  race  of  men,  either  stands  or  falls.  But 
methinks  my  friend  in  a  soliloquy,  is  casting  in  his  mind, 
what  wonderful  point  of  the  theological  compass  can 
that  be,  which  is  to  decide  so  great  a  controversy 
among  men  !  Why,  my  deistical  kinsman,  I  shall  endea- 
vour by  the  aid  of  the  little  share  of  the  powers  of  rati- 
ocination I  possess,  to  satisfy  the  forecasting  labour  of 
your  mind,  and  say,  that  it  appeared  to  me  as  I  laid 
in  my  birth,  reflecting  on  the  views,  opinions  and  dif- 
ferent sentiments,  which  mankind  hold  on  the  various 
points  of  the  theological  compass,  which  points  us  to 
the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  and  at  the  same  time, 
places  before  our  view,  on  the  telegraph  of  what  is 
called  religion,  or  the  worship  of  the  gods,  such  an  al- 
most nameless  catalogue  of  modes,  outward  forms, 
ceremonies,  doctrines  and  sentiments ;  that  at  the  first 
view  of  the  subject,  it  would  appear  to  the  mind  to  be 
a  mountain  of  difficulty — the  altitude  thereof,  appears 


40  ^  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

almost  insurmountable  for  the  rational  powers  of  our 
mind  to  ascend.  I  acknowledge,  at  the  first  glance  we 
take  of  the  subject,  this  appears  to  be  the  case ;  but  in 
answer  to  this  general,  though  trite  objection,  I  would 
ask.  Will  any  person  of  a  sane  mind,  say  that  the  sun  in 
our  national  heavens,  is  not  a  general  benefit  to  all  the 
human  race  ?  notwithstanding,  a  simple,  honest  man 
like  our  Moses,  should  say  the  sun  rises  or  sets,  as  the 
case  may  be ;  though  my  philosophical  friend,  you  will 
acknowledge  from  astronomical  investigation,  and 
mathematical  demonstration,  that  scientifically  speak- 
ing, the  sun  neither  rises  nor  sets ;  because  the  great 
Cause  aloft,  has  not  set  the  wheels  of  nature  to  work 
on  so  wild  and  extravagant  a  plan,  as  to  force  his 
luminous  servant,  the  sun,  to  run,  in  round  numbers, 
about  six  hundred  millions  of  miles  in  twenty  four 
hours ;  when  the  simple  rotation  of  the  earth,  whose 
surface  does  not  exceed  twenty-five  thousand  miles, 
w^ould  answer  an  easier  and  wiser  purpose,  and  goes  to 
prove  him  a  wise  as  well  as  a  rational  being.  Well, 
you  are  ready  to  say,  What  of  all  this  1  has  this  any 
relation,  or  even  remote  bearing  on  your  gloomy  whims 
and  frightful  vagaries,  that  have  been  passing  through 
your  mind  during  the  late  storms  you  have  had  to  en- 
counter— and  your  dreams  about  the  immortality  of 
the  souls  of  the  human  race  ?  What  in  the  name  of 
common  sense,  has  this  to  do  with  the  general  received 
opinion  of  the  common-people,  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth — which  is,  that  the  orb  of  day  rises  and  sets  on 
our  earth  !  yet,  my  philosophical  brother,  if  you  wished 
to  set  out  on  a  journey  early  on  the  ensuing  day,  how 
would  you  arrange  your  words,  in  order  to  communi- 
cate your  design  to  your  servant,  for  to  have  your  car- 
riage in  readiness  for  your  intended  journey  ?  Would 
you,  in  order  to  steer  clear  of  vulgar  ideas  and  w^ords, 
say  to  your  servants,  1  want  my  carriage  in  readiness 
before  the  rotation  of  the  earth  brings  on  our  vision 
the  light  of  the  sun  ?  Instead  of  saying  to  your  ser- 
vants. It  is  my  wish  or  design,  to  set  ofi*  before  sun-rise. 
(This  is  one  of  the  great  discharges  of  mustard  seed 
shot,  which  some  very  wise  men,  as  well  as  a  number 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  41 

of  ignorant  ones,  who  can  scarcely  read  a  chapter  of 
Moses  five  books,  bring  against  its  validity.)  So  that 
my  friend  at  once  sees,  that  let  our  attainments  in 
science,  wisdom  and  general  knowledge  have  arrived 
to  its  greatest  possible  acme,  yet  in  order  to  communi- 
cate our  views  and  wants  as  rational  beings  to  each 
other,  we  have  often  times  to  denude  ourselves  of  the 
fine  drapery  of  philosophical  ideas  and  words,  in  order 
that  our  servants,  and  the  generality  of  mankind  may 
understand  us. 

One  more  idea  on  the  universality  of  the  benefits  or 
blessings  of  the  sun.  Does  not  the  prince  and  his  mean- 
est subject,  the  philosopher,  and  the  poor  African,  all 
stand  in  the  same  need  of  heat,  light  and  all  other  bene- 
fits which  the  sun  produces  on  the  earth — the  one  with 
his  head  full  of  the  fine  drapery  of  philosophical  ideas, 
the  other  can  scarcely  write  his  name.  Now  my  simple 
conclusion  is  this,  that  you  will  not  make  objections 
against  the  light,  heat  and  all  other  blessings  and  bene- 
fits derivable,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the 
natural  sun  :  Because  of  the  discrepancy  of  the  views 
of  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  but  especially,  that  which 
the  plebeian  herd  of  all  nations  entertain  of  the  natu- 
ral cause  of  our  nights  and  days;  You  are  ready  to  say 
to  me,  does  not  common  sense  answer  your  question? 
the  philosopher  no  more  than  the  plebeian  can  live  on 
fine  words,  but  needs  with  the  sombre  African,  the 
solid  productions  of  the  earth  to  support  his  existence. 

Well,  this  concession  on  your  part,  brings  us  unto  the 
point  of  the  theological  compass,  I  wish  to  work  my 
ship  by,  over  the  sea  of  controversy  of  the  immortality 
of  the  race  of  men;  and  that  is  this,  that  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  discrepancy  of  views,  which  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  have,  or  do  take  of  religion  and  imrnor- 
tality,  it  may  be  brought  into  one  simple  focus  ;  which, 
as  I  laid  in  my  birth  reflecting,  during  the  late  storm, 
I  was  led  to  see,  that  all  onerously  rested  on  a  few 
hieroglyphicks,  or  signs  on  the  telegraph  of  the  cross, 
of  that  man  Pilate  crucified  ;  of  which,  so  much  effer- 
vescence has  from  time  to  time  been  spread  through  the 

d2 


42  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

world,  from  that  singular  catastrophe:  and  another  fully 
as  strange  and  singular!  a  circumstance  connected  with 
it ;  namely,  that  of  Christ  finding  his  way  out  of  the 
sepulchre,  and  evading  the  cautious  mind  of  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  and  the  martial  vigilance  of  the 
royal  guards  ;  on  which  single  occurrence,  I  must  say, 
is  most  incontrovertibly  suspended,  the  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  whole  human  race.  It  does  not  re- 
quire the  laboured  ingenuity  of  the  profound  theologian, 
or  the  powerful  ratiocination  of  the  tongue  of  the 
civilian,  to  prove  a  position  so  self' evident,  which  a 
child  of  ten  years  old  can  prove,  which  is  just  as  simple 
in  horn  book  mathematics,  as  that  two  and  two,  if  you 
put  them  simply  together,  will  make  four;  and  all  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the  philosopher,  civilian  and 
theologian,  with  all  the  combined  tergiversation  they 
are  master  of,  to  overturn  the  old  school  lady's  mathe- 
matical position,  that  two  and  two  make  four,  would 
prove  in  vain.  Well  then,  indulge  me  to  inform  my 
philosophical  friend,  that  these  things  have  brought  to 
my  fevered  mind,  during  the  late  storms  I  have  passed 
through,  that  the  immortality  of  the  human  family, 
rests  on  a  position  as  simple  and  self-evident,  as  that 
two  and  two  make  four. 

Methinks  by  this  time,  I  have  almost  raised  a  pug- 
nacious squall  about  the  royal  rigging  of  my  Deistical 
kinsman's  mind;  and  in  a  soliloquy,  you  are  just  ready 
to  exclaim,  What  does  the  fevered  mind  of  old  Balaam 
mean,  by  making  a  thing  that  has  onerously  occupied 
the  talents  of  so  many  wise  men,  as  Hume,  Gibbon, 
Voltaire,  Volney,  Paine  and  many  others ;  some  of  them 
spent  twenty  years  of  hard  study  and  assiduous  labour 
of  mind,  by  bringing  in  a  thousand  postulatory  objec- 
tions, and  ten  thousand  tergiversations,  as  the  grounds 
of  their  arguments,  to  prostrate  the  evidence  of  all  re- 
vealed religion  among  men,  that  your  old  fevered  mind 
can  rebut,  with  the  simple  mathematics  of  the  old 
country  school  lady's  logic. 

Is  it  not  written  by  one  of  the  greatest  advocates  of 
what  is  called  revealed  theology :  "  And  without  con- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  43 

troversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  Godliness.'*  Does  it 
not  then  require  men  of  wisdom  and  universal  know- 
ledge, to  successfully  rebut  a  system,  that  in  its  theo- 
logical and  mysterious  orginazation,  has  been  artfully 
and  ingeniously  intervolved  together?  And  does  it  not 
require  an  arm,  nerved  by  the  gods  of  battle  and 
war,  to  give  strength  to  the  fearless  and  the  bold  hero, 
to  cut  the  gordian  knot  asunder  ?  And  you  tell  us  it  is 
as  easily  done  as  madam  horn  book's  mathematics, 
that  twice  two  make  four! 

Why,  if  you  go  on  in  this  way  with  your  system  of 
simplicity,  nulifying  the  wisdom,  knowledge  and 
science  of  men,  and  bring  us  all  down  to  horn  book 
simplicity,  you  will  turn  out  to  be  a  more  successful 
dreamer  than  one  Joseph,  whom  Moses  tells  us  of 
And  you  would  have  me  believe,  that  the  Saturnian 
muse  has  paid  you  a  friendly  visit,  as  you  lie  sea-sick, 
and  imbued  your  old  mind  with  new  powers,  so  as  to 
make  difficult  things  to  become  wonderfully  easy. 

And  now  having  prepared  the  way,  like  the  ancient 
heroic  queen,  levelling  the  mountains  of  theological  diffi^ 
culty,  and  filling  vallies  of  controversy,  by  making  the 
highway  to  truth  so  plain,  that  a  wayfaring  man  can 
walk  therein  or  comprehend  the  same. 

I  perceive  it  is  high  time  to  present  my  inference  to 
your  philosophical  mind,  which  is  this :  that  the  truth 
and  certainty  of  the  immortality  of  all  mankind,  rests 
on  this  point :  Was  Christ  stolen  out  of  the  sepulchre 
by  his  eleven  disciples,  or  by  any  other  clandestine 
agency?  If  so,  then  all  the  consequent  counterpart — the 
immortality  of  the  human  family,  is  like  a  "sounding 
brass  and  tinkling  symbol."  This  was  the  report  of  Caia- 
phas  the  high  priest  of  my  people,  and  continues  to  this 
day.  But  if  this  said  Christ  went  out  of  the  sepulchre  by 
a  supermundane  agency — that  is,  a  power  of  which  the 
gods  are  only  in  the  plenary  possession  of,  then,  as  I 
have  said  of  the  natural  sun,  we  all,  whether  a  prince, 
a  slave,  a  philosopher.  Deist,  Atheist,  a  wise  man  or  a 
plebeian,  must  be  either  blest  by  his  benefits,  as  the  sun 
of  immortality  in  the  theological  heavens,  or  burned 


44  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

up  with  the  indignant  rays  of  his  hot  displeasure,  for- 
ever. 

But  the  controverted  point,  whether  Christ  did,  or 
did  not  rise  from  the  dead,  I  shall  pursue  no  further  at 
this  time ;  but  shall  present  to  the  view  of  my  deistical 
friend,  a  little  more  of  my  experience  during  the  last 
storm  I  w^as  in ;  which  ^vas  as  follows :  During  the  in- 
terregnum of  my  fevered  spasms,  in  some  long  winter 
nights,  my  mind  was  by  some  agency,  beyond  my  con- 
troul,  onerously  brought  to  reflect  on  some  of  our  desul- 
torious  conversation,  about  the  person  of  Christ;  when 
in  company  with  you  and  your  cabinet  friends,  in  the 
drawing  room  of  state ;  when  our  excursive  fancies 
took  a  keen  survey  of  that  mysterious  intruder,  into  our 
mundane  dispensation. 

The  first  sign  we  saw  on  the  telegraph  of  his  thologi- 
cal  character,  was  his  loio  hirth,  when  we  viewed  him  as 
the  legitimate  off'^pring  of  a  poor  handmaid,  who  in  the 
sombre  hours  of  the  imperious  calls  of  nature,  and  the 
physical  emergency,  of  what  we,  in  our  risible  satire, 
called  the  maiden  ladies  distress.  We  with  our  croco- 
dile tears,  over  the  sparkling  wine,  overflowing  the 
purlieu  of  the  cw^'^yMi^deo^  the  gold  ophir — we  feigned 
to  commiserate  her  low  condition,  and  wretched  accom- 
modations,  of  the  maiden  mother  of  a  Prhice,  who  was 
said  to  be  destined  to  rule  and  govern  the  world ;  and 
who,  at  the  time  of  his  advent  or  birth,  was  destitute 
of  a  house,  lands,  riches,  honour,  servants.  Physician 
and  of  royal  shining  things  ;  when  there  was  brought 
to  my  rememberance,  a  special  occasion,  on  which  my 
philosophical  friend  gave  a  royal  feast  to  the  chief 
princes,  high  captains,  lords  and  other  dignatories  of 
the  empire :  dinner  being  over,  and  all  the  royal  com- 
pany sitting  around  the  wine  and  desert  board  ;  when 
the  person  and  character  of  this  intruder  among  men, 
was  taken  up  by  some  of  the  exhilarated  company; 
when  you  observed  to  us,  that  you  had  it  from  the  most 
indubitable  source  of  testimony,  that  the  plebeian 
Prince  was  born  in  a  stable ;  and  that  his  maiden 
mother  had  to  cradle  him  in  a  manger :  at  which  ludi- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  45 

crous  trait,  in  the  condition  of  an  infantine  Prince,  pro- 
duced a  most  wonderful  effect  on  all  present,  and  filled 
the  atmosphere  of  the  drawing-room,  with  a  high  state 
of  humidity,  and  soon  brought  down  a  copious  and 
refreshing  shower  of  risibility,  from  all  the  felicitous 
countenances  present;  and  soon  set  all  the  scintillating 
elements,  with  all  the  oscillatory  machinery,  in  plenary 
motion :  When  one  of  the  wise  and  happy  company, 
very  opportunely  observed  :  We  see  nothing  more  of 
the  precocious  signs  of  this  manger  cradled  Prince, 
manifested  for  many  years.  This  trite  and  shrewd  re- 
mark, I  well  remember,  was  like  sweet  almond  nuts, 
for  the  princely  company  at  the  royal  entertainment, 
to  crack  over  the  flowing  glasses  of  the  richest  wine 
this  mundane  state  could  afford.  And  does  not  my 
friendly  philosophical  coadjutor  well  remember,  that 
when  the  discursive  fancy  of  our  scintillating  minds, 
rising  in  grandeur  like  the  majestic  trail  of  a  comet, 
stretching  his  fiery  glare  like  a  canopy  over  the  royal 
pavilion — when  its  glowing  coruscation  of  philosophi- 
cal light,  that  it  came  to  pass,  that  we  at  that  time 
thought  the  herculean  strength  of  our  minds  appear- 
ed to  be  such,  that,  like  the  fable  of  some  of  my  Jewish 
ancestors,  of  one  Sampson  and  the  lion — we  conceived 
it  to  be  mere  play  to  take  hold  of  the  young  manger 
Prince,  and  rend  him  like  a  kid  ;  when  we  went  to  work 
like  men  of  wisdom,  and  most  assiduously  endeavour- 
ed to  prove  to  each  other,  that  the  reported  w^orks  and 
miracles  of  Christ,  were  nothing  but  a  theological  de- 
ception, or  what  the  gallant  and  polite  company  in  the 
suavity  of  their  style,  call  a  pious  fraud. 

Now  the  w^itty  puns  and  sarcastical  innuendoes,  that 
put  you  and  myself,  with  the  transient  company,  that 
would  oftentimes,  in  the  relaxation  of  official  business, 
when  cabinet  hours  were  over  for  the  day — so  that 
after  the  reception  of  your  princely  bounty  at  the  di- 
ning table,  how  often  have  we  spent  the  passing  hour 
in  throwing  a  few  of  our  philosophical  sky-rockets,  at 
the  man  Pilate  crucified  on  the  cross !  Yes,  my  philo- 
sophical kinsman,  these  things  were  all  brought  in  the 


46  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

mDst  vivid  manner  to  my  mind,  as  I  laid,  turning  from 
side  to  side,  under  tha  onerous  upbraiding  of  my  con- 
science, when  a  kind  of  spectre  influence,  as  some  say, 
was  the  case  with  Brutus:  reminding  me  of  some  of 
those  seasons,  when  we  experience  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary share  of  deistical  and  Jewish  joy,  when  we  would 
call  up  the  young  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,  which  was 
the  suavity  of  our  court  style  in  my  juvenile  days  ;  and 
place  him,  Samson  like,  on  a  pedestal  in  the  centre  of 
our  philosophical  amphitheatre,  for  each  one  of  the  hap- 
py guests  to  let  fly  a  sharp  arrow  of  scorn  at ;  while 
Christ  stood,  like  a  pirate  or  sea  robber,  who  had  been 
caught  and  placed  in  a  pillory  before  us  ;  w^hile  each 
person,  with  the  whole  arcanum  of  our  innuendos  rotten 
eggs,  from  the  elegant  bureau,  in  the  drawing-room  of 
our  cultivated  minds,  throw  a  thousand  risible  sarcas- 
tic puns,  at  the  tragical  life  and  character  of  the  son  of 
Joseph  the  carpenter.  This  unwelcome  presentation 
to  my  mind,  has  made  me  experience  a  more  than 
ordinary  share  of  chagrin  ;  let  the  influence  come  from 
what  power  or  quarter  it  might,  still  it  involuntarily, 
on  my  part,  caused  me  to  reflect  on  the  words  and 
actions  of  my  whole  life. 

But  it  now  behooves  me,  through  the  medium  of  the 
pen,  to  inform  you,  my  dear  kinsman,  that  those  once 
to  me,  blissful  hours,  which  w^e  so  felicitously  spent  in 
each  other's  exhilarating  society,  are  in  my  case  like  a 
morning  cloud  spread  over  the  mountains  of  Israel, 
when  the  sun  rises,  it  soon  passes  away; — ^just  so  all 
earthly  happiness  disappeared  from  over  the  horizon  of 
my  life,  and  left,  me  surrounded  w^ith  a  sombre  atmos- 
phere of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  as  to  the  future.  But 
still  when  the  Aveather  is  such,  that  I  can  crawl  on 
deck,  and  by  the  aid  of  my  best  cabin  spy-glass,  try  to 
look  into  the  blue  sea  of  eternity,  (as  it  is  so  called  by 
all  those  who  navigate  along  this  dreary  coast  of  death;) 
when  I  discover  that  the  passage  into  the  sea  lays 
through  a  narrow  strait  w  hich  I  have  caught  with  my 
glass ; — and  when  the  air  is  clear  about  the  dawn  of  the 
^un,  I  think  I  see  something  like  a  cross,  thjat  I  have 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  47 

been  dreaming  about ;  and  the  sailors  of  the  ship,  very 
often  in  their  night  watches,  are  telling  a  number  of 
frightful  sea-stories  to  each  other,  about  a  man  that  is 
seen  in  dark  nights  hanging  on  a  cross.  These  things 
coming  in  contact  with  my  weak  and  fevered  mind, 
may  be  the  cause  of  my  imagination  fancying,  at  times, 
that  I  see  the  spectre  also.  But  when  the  storm  pas- 
ses over,  and  my  pains  and  distress  of  mind  are  not  so 
acute,  and  I  experience  a  slight  degree  of  convales- 
cence, I  try  to  brace  up  my  nerves  by  going  to  my  medi- 
cine chest,  and  looking  over  all  your  philosophical  drops, 
pills  and  powders,  with  the  unitersal  panacea  you  gave 
me  when  I  left  your  service. 

These  medicines,  it  is  true,  as  I  have  more  than  once 
stated  in  my  correspondence  to  you,  often  produce  a 
transient  relief;  so  that  I  again  begin  to  think,  that  my 
conscientious  fever,  and  the  frightful  spectre  of  the  man 
on  the  cross,  with  my  alarming  dreams  about  passing 
the  straits  of  death,  arise  altogether  from  my  religious 
education,  and  that,  as  you  say,  or  rather  your  new 
doctrine  of  the  philosophy  of  the  marvellous  age  of 
reason,  so  amply  teaches,  that  we  are  indeed  nothing 
but  mere  creatures  of  circumstances  ;  so  that  when 
these  reflections  pass  through  my  mind,  I  go  to  the 
w^indward  side  of  the  ship,  and  taking  up  the  glass,  I 
endeavour  to  take  an  excursive  survey  on  all  the  past 
enjoyments  of  this  mundane  state  ;  but  especially  that 
period  of  my  past  years,  under  your  royal  favour,  when 
I  was  blest  with  a  plenary  share  in  my  juvenile  days, 
of  all  that  is  desirable  to  man  ;  to  wit :  a  healthy  con- 
stitution— a  flow  of  spirits — and  vivacity  of  all  my 
physical  powers,  with  riches  and  honour,  which  opened 
the  wide  field  of  earthly  happiness  before  my  mind, 
w^hen  I  indulged  myself  in  all  those  desirable  satellites, 
that  revolved  round  me  daily. 

These  pleasing  reflections  on  the  past,  however,  are 
but  of  a  short  duration,  in  consequence  of  a  re-action 
of  my  mind  that  they  are  all  past — and  with  the  re- 
ceding shades  of  time,  treacherously  gliding  away; 
leaving  me  not  a  single  piece  of  the  wreck  of  the  base- 


48  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

less  vision  behind,  of  all  the  tangible  pleasures  and 
sensible  happiness,  I  once  so  plenarily  possessed;  which 
are  now  leaving  me  only  a  sandy  arena  for  my  tremu- 
lous feet  to  rest  upon ;  and  the  once  cloud-capped 
mountains  of  earthly  happiness,  of  riches,  power, 
honour  and  glory,  are  all  now,  as  it  were,  presented  to 
my  mind  under  the  similitude  of  a  female  form,  clothed 
in  a  careless  robe  of  changeable  silk,  dancing  on  the 
volatile  sea  of  earthly  pleasure ;  w^hen  she  passes  my 
sick-bed  at  a  distance,  with  a  smile  on  her  countenance, 
looking  a  few  moments  on  my  present  affliction — then 
by  an  easy  inclination  of  her  elegant,  and  which  once 
appeared  to  me,  graceful  form,  bids  me  a  final  adieu ! 
and  I  see  her  no  more ;  leaving  me  to  grapple  with  all 
the  weakness  and  infirmities  of  old  age,  and  the  som- 
bre storms  that  are  to  be  met  with  by  every  voyager, 
as  they  approach  the  dreary  shore  of  death. 

But  as  1  experience  the  distress  and  former  infirmi- 
ties, which  of  late  years  I  have  been  the  dolorous  re- 
cipient of,  fast  returning  on  me,  with  the  most  sombre 
scenery  around,  in  whatever  view  I  take  of  my  present 
condition  and  circumstances ;  that  is,  in  the  first  place, 
my  Jewish  education,  at  times,  but  more  particularly 
in  the  hours  when  my  pains  and  afiilictions  are  at  their 
full  acme,  places  before  my  mind  the  awful  dispensa- 
tion called  eternity !  And  as  my  old  ship-of-life  lies  but 
a  few  leagues  oflf  the  Cymmerian  coast,  on  the  deathly 
promontories  of  which  I  see  a  gloomy  telegraph,  that 
directs  all  strangers  as  they  approach  the  shore  to  the 
entrance  of  the  channel  called  death,  at  the  very  mouth 
of  the  straits.  Sailors  and  all  the  common  people  on 
ship-board,  say  it  is  reported  there  is  a  cross  with  the 
man  that  Pilate  crucified,  transfixed  on  it.  How  true 
these  reports  are,  I  do  not  undertake  to  say;  nevertheless, 
as  the  wind  while  I  am  writing  is  blowing  from  oflf  the 
deathly  shore,  I  every  now  and  then  hear  the  furious 
blast  as  it  passes  through  the  hollow  and  shaggy  rocks, 
that  lie  along  this  dreary  and  iron-bound  shore,  which 
causes  a  kind  of  re-action,  and  long  repercussive 
sound,  throughout  my  mournful  soul,  which  responds 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  49 

my  sighs  and  groans,  like  a  re-echo  to  the  deathly 
shore  again ;  and  as  the  blasts  are  gathering  strength, 
and  furiously  roaring  through  the  spars  and  rigging  of 
my  old  ship,  splitting  and  tearing  my  sails  to  pieces,  and 
the  crazy  action  of  the  vessel,  causing  the  bilge-water, 
to  dash  and  wash  about  the  floor- timbers  and  keelson  of 
my  heart ;  the  nauseous  affluvia  coming  in  contact  with 
my  alfactory  nerves,  so  that  I  experience  my  sea-sick- 
ness fast  returning,  which  admonishes  me  to  finish  my 
scrawl  and  turn  into  my  berth.  And  should  I  live 
through  this  dark  and  stormy  night,  and  my  old  bark 
outride  the  present  gale,  and  the  Steerman  aloft  (let  him 
or  they,  be  w  hom  or  what  he  may,  which  is  the  ostensible 
object  of  my  present  correspondence  to  ascertain)  kind- 
ly indulge  me  with  a  small  share  of  convalescence,  so 
as  to  sit  up  in  my  berth ;  and  the  nerves  of  my  fingers, 
be  so  far  reclaimed  from  the  lassitude  that  has  this 
moment  seized  my  hand,  and  the  sea  (of  Jewish  hard- 
ness of  heart  and  national  unbelief)  does  not  run  too 
mountainously  high,  I'll  write  to  you  once  more,  a 
short  scrawl  on  this  dolorous  subject  of  immortality, 
Heaven,  Hell,  Death  and  the  Man  Pilate  crucified. 

So  adieu,  at  this  time.  From  your  old  sea-sick 
friend  and  coadjutor,  in  opposing  the  claim  of 
that  character,  who  by  some  is  called  Christ. 

BALAAM. 

To  Ma  excellency  Doctor  Heist. 
March  31,  1831. 


50 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


Under  the  metaphor  of  Balaam  the  prophet,  the  Jewish 
nation  sends  his  fifth  and  last  letter  to  the  Deists  of  modern 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  dreary  coast  of  death,  and  the  cross  of  Christ,  located 
in  the  channel,  at  llie  euti'ance  of  the  sti'aits,  which  lead  into  the  blue  sea 
of  eternity. 

No.  2.  The  old  worn  out  ship-of-life,  with  the  Jewish  nation  on  board, 
chiefly  manned  and  navigated  by  Pliilosophers,  Deists,  and  Atheists,  sailing 
under  the  colours  of  (  ai-nal  Kcason  and  Vain  Philosophy,  which  at  last  ar- 
rive.'? close  in  with  the  straits  of  death :  When  all  hopes  of  escapii.g  the 
wrath  of  God  and  the  Lamb  are  at  an  end. 

No.  3.  The  watchman  on  ihe  top  of  the  dark,  lantern,  on  tlie  iron-bound 
coast  of  death— uiio  gives  notice  of  the  arrival  of  all  vessels  on  that  coast, 
with  the  colours  they  carry. 

No.  4. Tlie  old  Jew  lies  sick  in  his  bed,  with  two  eminent  physicians  in 
attendance,  viz.  Doctors  C:iriial  U.  a<on  and  Vain  Philosophy, — the  one  at 
his  feet,  directing  him  to  the  bright  Phosphorus  (or  morning  star)  in  the  new 
heaven  of  the  as.  e  of  Reason,  as  his  dernier  hope,  to  cast  the  sheet  anchor  of 
his  soul  upon,  as  e  ]iasses  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  The 
other  Physician — ihat  is.  Car  al  Hea>=cn,  at  his  htad,  placing  the  best  argu- 
ments and  most  powerful  reasoning,  which  the  philosopliy  of  the  human  mind 
can  give — supported  by  the  long  prejudices  and  old  prepossession.^  of  the 
c;irnal  mind,  against  the  doctrines  of  the  cross,  and  a  s])iritual  Mes-^iah,  as  a 
ntbulous  Panacea  for  his  old  ]iatient,  Balaam,  (or  the  nation  of  the  Jews) 
in  his  expiring  moments,  when  the  Jewish  nation,  under  the  metaphor  of  the 
piophet,  calls  for  his  old  auguring  table,  and  writes  his  last  letter  to  tlie 
Deist,  wlioni  he  .again  addresses  as  the  great  Prince  of  Infidelity. 

No.  5  M.diMt  Calvary  and  the  three  crosses,  which  are  always  to  be  seen 
oa  oae  of  the  liij^ti  promontories  on  the  coast  ot  death. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  51 

Christendom ;  and  with  it  closes  all  further  epistolatory  cor- 
respondence with  the  Deist  forever. 

August  Prince^ 

Having  in  my  old  barque 
of  life,  through  the  indulgence  and  favour  of  the  great 
Helms-man  aloft,  whether  he  be  that  being  of  infinite 
power  and  wisdom,  that  old  Moses  describes,  or  the 
gods  you  have  newly  (with  your  long  and  improved 
telescope  of  modern  philosophy)  discovered  in  the  age 
of  reason,  my  mind,  at  present,  is  too  much  indisposed 
to  undertake  to  decide. 

My  old  ship-of-life  has  outridden  the  gale  I  was  in, 
when  I  wrote  last,  as  my  vessel  lie  off  the  highlands  of 
death,  having  received  some  help  from  the  superior 
skill  of  those  two  eminent  physicians.  Reason  and 
Philosophy,  to  which  you  had  the  kindness  to  advise 
me  to  apply  in  my  present  distress,  in  the  note  you 
sent  me  by  the  hand  of  your  volatile  servant  Vanity; 
so  that  I  can  inform  j^ou,  thanks  to  the  Helms-man 
aloft,  (whether  he  be  the  solitary  God  of  our  old  Moses, 
or  the  gods  of  the  age  of  Reason,  or  the  family  compact 
of  the  christian's  ;  to  wit :  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost, 
I  must  confess  I  am  at  present  at  a  loss  categorically 
to  decide)  still  pardon  my  tautologous  weakness  in 
naming  these  things — I  am  so  far  convalescent  at  times, 
as  to  be  able  to  sit  up  in  my  berth.  When,  may  it 
please  your  serene  highness,  I  thought  to  mj^self,  it 
would  be  prudent  to  loose  no  time  in  writing  my  last 
scrawl  to  you,  in  which  it  is  my  humble  design  to  close 
all  my  written  communications  to  you,  on  the  dolorous 
subject  of  the  soul's  immortality  forever.  Therefore,  I 
humbly  and  most  devoutly  pray  your  benign  goodness 
and  princely  philanthropy,  to  suffer  your  old  servant 
and  ancient  premier  and  prophet,  to  once  more  intrude 
on  the  royal  locker  of  your  princely  heart,  and  the 
plenary  exchequer  of  your  natural  benevolence,  with 
his  dernier,  and  at  the  same  time,  valedictory  request; 
which,  great  Prince,  if  the  subject  were  not  of  the 
highest  interest  and  the  greatest  importance,  as  weH 


52  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

as  of  the  first  magnitude,  that  ever  to  this  day  has  en- 
grossed and  elicited  the  most  profound  attention  of  all 
rational  and  intelligent  beings,  in  this  mundane  dispen- 
sation, your  obedient  servant  would  be  almost  led  to 
forecast  in  his  mind,  that  he  should  become  his  ovrn 
unfelicitous  agent,  of  drawing  down  his  lord's  high 
displeasure,  instead  of  a  gracious  answer  to  his  vale- 
dictory prayer.     In  consequence  of  the  many  requisi- 
tions, levies  and  heavy  taxes,  w^hich  my   presuming 
boldness  has  already  presented  to  my  legitimate  Prince: 
were  it  not  that  your  humble  servant,  from  the  long 
experience  he  had  in  your  service,  is  fully  satisfied  in 
his  mind,  of  the  plenary  altitude  of  all  those  benign  and 
excellent  qualities,  and  all  the  social  graces  which  con- 
stitute the  full  portrait  of  a  benign  Prince — all  harmo- 
nizing in,   and  about  j^our  royal  person.     Therefore, 
indulge  me,  most  excellent  and  illustrious  Prince,  to 
spread  the  almost  inexpressible  sensation  of  a  grateful 
heart  in  your  view,   through  the  medium  of  my  pen, 
while   my   excursive   mind   takes   a  retrogade   view, 
through   the   philanthropic   heavens,    and   benevolent 
horizon  of  your  serene  highness,  during  your  past  reign. 
Yes,  sire,  when  I  view  the  w^iole  galaxy  of  moral  and 
social  qualities,  and  other  excellencies,  that  v/ere  so  most 
felicitously  associated,  with  a  mind  so  richly  cultiva- 
ted with    philosophical  wisdom   and  knowledge,    and 
all    the   other    ornamental    sciences    that    adorn    the 
character,  and  embellishes  the  person  of  a  great  Prince. 
And  in  addition  to  those  brilliant  hieroglyphicks,  that 
shone  w^ith  such  splendour  on  the  telegraph  of  your 
public  administration — indulge  me  to  add  your  social 
virtues,  which  I  saw,   and  was   in  the  daily  habit  of 
taking  special  notice  of,  in  all  your  private  w^alks  through 
life,  during  the  whole  of  my  occupancy  of  the  premier's 
office,  when  I  so  often  admired  those  tender  conjugal 
affections  towards  your  amiable  consort — Queen  Unbe- 
lief; and  all  the  expressions  of  tenderness,  towards  the 
lovely  fruits  of  your  congressional  affection,  the  sweet 
babes  of  the  age  of  reason.     The  symmetry  of  their 
countenances  proclaimed,  without  a  royal  register  to 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  53 

confirm  their  legitimacy,  as  heirs  apparent  to  your 
large  estates  or  principalities,  in  your  vast  empire  of 
Infidelity,  in  the  glorious  age  of  reason  and  philosophy. 
These  graces  and  social  qualities,  as  a  kind  husband, 
father  and  friend,  most  pre-eminently  show  themselves 
in  your  private  walks,  so  that  they  were  seen  by  all 
who  had  access  to  your  majesty,  in  the  social  circle. 

I  do  not  distinctly  remember  that   I  ever  knew  a 
solitary  stranger,  who  visited  your  court,  during  the 
many  years  that  I  stood  behind  the  bureau  of  state, 
but  what  beheld  with  admiration,  those  personal  graces 
and  social  qualities,  they  saw  so  congenially  associa- 
ted— with  the  most  profound  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
of  all  the  arcanum  of  men  and  things,  in  this  earthly 
dispensation,  and,  sire,  greatly  enlarged  as  your  wisdom 
must  consequently  be,  of  men  and  things.     Therefore, 
your  humble  servant  takes  it  for  granted,  from  all  the 
foregoing  felicitous  omens,  that  shone  forth  with  such 
refulgence  in  the  civil  and  military  glory  of  your  past 
reign,  which  has  led  me  to  this  corollary,  that  my 
royal  master  will  not  in  the  least  degree  impugn  my 
motives,  in  this  dernier  draught  on  ycur  patience  and 
condescending  benevolence.     Therefore,  sire,  let  your 
princely  nobleness  of  soul,  permit  your  old  servant  to 
entertain,  in  the  purlieu  of  his  mind,  the  most  plenary 
affiance,  that  this  his  last  request  shall  meet  a  most 
favourable  issue  in  my  lord's  mind  : — that  the  vale- 
dictory prayer  I  am  about  to  present  as  my  last  behest, 
at  the  foot  of  your  throne,  shall  be,  by  the  altitude  of 
your  benign  clemency,  gratuitously  granted.     That  is, 
royal  Prince,  that  the  eleven  disciples,  who  are  said,  by 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Roman 
guards,  to  have  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the  body  of 
Christ,   after  it   had   been  crucified.     That   the  said 
eleven  disciples,  shall  have  the  privilege  granted  them, 
in  some  one  of  the  honourable  high  courts  of  chancery, 
to   be   indulged    with   an   honourable  and   impartial 
trial,  respecting  the  onerous  charge,  which  by  the  fore- 
named  characters,  have  been,  with  such  undeviating 
tenacity,  preferred  against  them ;  as  it  has  been  confi- 


54  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

dently  stated  to  me,  that  the  robbers  never  had  a  trial 
in  any  legal  court  of  law  and  inquest,  since  their  per- 
petration of  the  deed. 

This  delinquency,  on  the  part  of  the  honour  and 
martial  glory  of  the  Roman  arms,  is  not,  please  your 
majesty,  so  very  easily  accounted  for.  And  how  it 
was  that  the  ecclesiastical  honour  and  glory  of  the  re- 
ligion of  my  nation,  should  never  have  thought  of 
having  the  robbers  brought  to  a  court  of  Justice,  ap- 
pears equally  strange:  but  as  we  do  not  know  their 
motives,  I  will  not  impugn  them. 

And  now,  most  benign  Prince,  your  old  servant 
viewing  from  the  altitude  of  the  mountain  of  your 
philosophical  glory,  and  royal  benevolence,  the  most 
overflowing  fountains  of  your  former  philanthropy, 
clemency  and  good  will  towards  me,  and  professedly 
towards  all  mankind  ; — therefore,  your  old  servant  ex- 
periences himself  fully  justified,  in  placing  the  most 
plenary  affiance,  that  I  shall  have  my  royal  master's 
most  unqualified  consent,  that  a  high  court  of  Chancery, 
or  a  court  of  law  and  inquest  shall  be  convened,  first 
over  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  in  order  to  ascertain, 
if  possible,  what  went  with  the  dead  body  of  Christ 
after  his  crucifixion ;  and  if  the  bodv  is  not  to  be  found 
m  this  earthly  dispensation. 

Then,  please  your  majesty,  let  the  court  proceed  un- 
der the  auspices  of  your  royal  authority,  as  a  high 
court  of  chancery,  having  plenary  power  over  all  crimi- 
nal and  civil  cases  —  whether  they  be  of  a  martial  or  civil 
character  ;  so  as  to  be  fully  empowered  by  your  majesty, 
to  call  to  the  bar  of  said  court,  all  the  parties,  persons, 
and  things,  associated  with,  and  that  are  either  direct- 
ly or  indirectly  concerned  with  the  arrest,  trial,  con- 
demnation, crucifixion,  and  the  loss  or  escape  of  the 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  For,  may  it  please 
your  majesty,  I  do  most  onerously  experience  it  to  be 
high  time  that  this  business  were  settled,  in  order  that 
this  vituperating  gospel  were  put  to  silence — which, 
royal  prince,  has  been  disturbing,  for  so  many  ages 
the  elements  of  se^isual  joys,  and  oftentimes  undulating 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  55 

the  sea  of  mundane  bliss.  This  gospel  has  been  like 
Mount  ^Etna  or  Vesuvius,  disgorging  its  sulphur  and 
vomiting  out  its  flames,  for  near  two  thousand  years; 
which,  like  the  notorius  Bohan  or  Upas  tree  of  the  east, 
has  been  const uperating  the  moral  atmosphere  with 
spreading  its  effluvia,  which  acts  like  a  deadly  poison. 
The  theological  gas  has  been  destroying  all  the  luxuri- 
ant plants,  and  delicate  flowers  of  our  earthly  felicity. 

May  it  please  your  royal  honour,  I  merely  take  this 
oblique  glance  at  these  things,  so  as  to  give  my  lord  a 
clue  to  the  grand  and  ostensible  object,  which  his  old 
servant  has  in  view,  in  praying  that  the  subject  of  the 
robbery  of  the  sepulchre  may  be,  by  your  indulgence 
and  permission,  brought  into  court  for  legal  adjudica- 
tion; so  that  the  pious  fraud  of  the  gospel,  (which  you 
well  know  is  the  sauvity  of  court  style,  when  that  su- 
perstitious malady,  at  any  time,  occupies  the  polite 
vocabulary  of  courts,)  may  be  openly  detected  before 
the  world. 

Yes,  great  Prince,  what  a  most  glorious  state  of 
things  would  then  be  effected  for  our  mundane  dispen- 
sation !  Yes,  sire,  all  that  is  wanting  to  make  our 
world  like  a  terrestrial  Paradise,  is  to  get  entirely  clear 
of  that  conscientious  troubling  malady,  called  the  gos- 
pel. But,  I  will  say  no  more  on  these  things,  well 
knowing  that  your  wisdom  and  plenary  knowledge  of 
this  and  every  other  subject,  that  comes  within  the 
purlieu  of  the  human  mind,  is  fully  capable  of  enlarg- 
ing all  the  signs  that  will  appear  in  the  glorious  age  of 
reason  and  philosophy.  These  things,  I  have  taken 
the  humble,  yet  onerous  responsibility  of  placing  before 
your  princely  mind.  But,  sire,  in  consequence  of  my 
once  being  your  old  national  prophet,  I  might  on  this 
occasion  denude  myself  of  the  robe  of  a  court  servant, 
and  array  myself  in  the  official  vestments  of  my  pro- 
phetical office,  and  then  be  much  more  bold  to  even 
enjoin  thee  that  which  is  convenient ;  yet  being  (as 
one  has  almost  said  before  me.)  such  a  one  as  Balaam 
the  aged,  and  now  also  a  prisoner  by  old  age,  on  board 
the  prison-ship  of  timey  which  at  this  moment  lies  close 


56  ClIllIST  REJECTED. 

in  with  the  straits  of  death.  But,  sir,  although  I  thus 
write,  I  still  have,  and  do  at  this  moment  experience, 
the  fullest  confidence  in  your  gratuitous  condescen- 
sion, so  that  you  will  even  do  more  than  my  prayer 
calls  for.  Now,  may  the  gods  of  earned  reason,  and 
the  new  gods  of  philosophy  of  the  golden  age,  be  with 
you  and  your  royal  consort.  Queen  Unbelief,  and  all 
the  dear  children  and  lovely  babes,  which  the  new 
gods  have  given  you  as  a  pledge  of  your  conjugal  af- 
fection : — most  benignly  vouchsafeing  always  to  spread 
the  canopy  of  their  protecting  wings  over  your  rising 
offspring,  which  the  special  favour  of  the  new  heavens 
has  rewarded  you  with,  from  the  mutual  congress  of 
reason  and  pthilosyphy.  And  now,  benignly  accept  of 
my  most  devout  prayer,  and  solemn  intercession  to 
your  new  divinities,  which  shall  ever  be,  while  I  con- 
tinue on  the  shores  of  time,  that  those  new  gods,  sire, 
may  bless  your  future  reign  with  a  large  and  wide 
spread  dominion:  and  that  your  new  doctrines  may 
obtain  a  universal  conquest  over  Christ  and  his  gospel. 
Then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  prenominating  say- 
ing of  a  great  prince :  to  wit ; — your  felicitous  subjects 
shall  "  be  as  the  God's,  knowing  both  good  and  evil ;" 
and  find  out,  independent  of  what  is  called  divine  reve- 
lation,  the  great  arcanum  of  nature,  so  that  your  sub- 
jects will  be  fully  able,  by  the  analytical  apparatus  of 
your  new  philosophy,  to  perfectly  analyze  both  the 
physical,  metaphysical  and  hypostatical  nature  of  man, 
into  its  pristine  component  parts,  when  the  grand 
secret  of  human  nature  shall  be  fully  known.  And 
when  I  augur  those  happy  days,  my  mind,  sick  as  I 
am,  is  almost  in  an  ecstacy  of  joy — when  I  contemplate 
the  triumph  of  philosophy  and  reason,  over  the  gospel 
of  Christ:  and  my  prayer  is  the  same  in  substance,  as 
it  was  in  tlie  days  of  Balak,  king  of  the  Moabites,  to 
curse  Israel.  But,  some  influence  beyond  my  control, 
like  the  power  of  your  modern  ventriloquist,  instead  of 
pitching  my  voice  into  the  camp  of  the  children  of 
Israel — the  sound  of  my  curses,  as  they  came  warm 
from  my  heart,  full  of  pugnacity — and  before  my  words 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  5T 

reached  the  camp  of  Israel,  the  gods  or  fates  so  meta- 
morphosed them,  as  they  passed  through  the  ambient 
air;  so  that  when  the  sound  reached  the  camp  of  Israel, 
the  traitorous  innuendos  categorily  pronounced,  a  bles- 
sing instead  of  a  curse.  But  my  devout  prayers  to 
your  new  god^-  shall  be,  that  the  glory,  the  honour,  and 
the  riches  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  with  the  abun- 
dance of  the  sea,  may  flow  into  the  royal  exchequer  of 
your  new  administration :  and  that  your  resources 
may  be  ample  to  give  plenary  felicity  to  all  your  sub- 
jects :  and  that  all  your  royal  sons  and  daughters  may 
receive  a  princely  and  finished  education,  in  the  high 
schools  o^  modern  infidelity ;  where  hard '2 ess  of  hearty 
pugnacity  against  the  revealed  will  of  God,  (so  called) 
and  unbelief  of  the  Gospel,  and  he  who  is  called  the 
Son  of  God,  shall  be  taught  upon  the  best  models  of 
modern  improvement,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of  your  old 
prophet,  and  once  faithful  and  humble  premier. 

Accept,  royal  Prince,  my  highest  consideration  for  your 
personal  happiness,  and  my  most  profound  homage 
for  all  the  qualities  and  other  excellent  graces  of 
your  princely  nature  ;  and  that  a  plenary  share  of 
mundane  felicity  may  be  the  lot  of  yourself  and  all 
your  royal  family. 

BALAAM. 

To  hia  serene  highness,  and  most  illustrioiis  Prince — -who  is  by  proftssion 
the  President  of  the  high  College  of  Reason,  Philosophy,  and  modern 
Infidelity. 

April  30,  1832. 

Reader,  what  a  candid  and  honest  portrait  of  the  hearts  of 
all  men,  who  prefer  earthly,  to  heavenly  things,  is  this  last 
letter  of  the  Jew's  to  our  Deist  of  modern  times  !  who  are, 
with  King  David's  old  fool,  saying  in  the  secret  of  their 
hearts,  no  God — Christ — nor  Immortality  ! 


58  CHRIST    REJECTED. 


U„=---_  ,====~^^^^^      _           ^-^          ,          -^1 

^ms^^^^^^i^^^m     —7-.^^^       •   sj^^^^    .  .,1^ 

^^^  ii=  11=  ^^^^  >  if  .'i^ 

[Here  foUoweth  the  reflections  of  Doctor  Deist,  on  hearing 
his  private  Secretary  read  over,  in  his  presence,  the  five 
letters  which  the  Jewish  nation  sent  him,  under  the  metaphor 
or  personification  of  Balaam  the  prophet.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  his  august  majesty, 
the  legitimate  sovereign  of  the  kingdom  of  Infidelity^ 
and  in  consequence  of  his  serene  highness  having  re- 
ceived a  finished  education,  in  the  sublime  profession  of 
modern  deisniy  when  the  college  as  an  honorary  reward 
for  the  great  proficiency  he  had  made,  above  many  of 
his  equals  in  his  juvenile  years,  presented  him  by  the 
hands  of  the  directors  -and  trustees  of  that  high  seat  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  with  the  president's  chair,  in 


Figure  No.  1.  The  King's  Secretary,  reading  the  old  Premier's  five  let-^ 
ters  to  his  majesty  in  his  private  drawing  room. 

No.  2.  'I'he  King's  Astronomer  viewing  the  new  heavens  in  the  age  of 
Reason  and  Infidelity. 

No.  3.  Human  Reason  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn,  at  the  idea  of  Justify- 
ing mankind  through  the  cross  of  Jesus  Clirist. 

No.  4.  The  gi-and  marshal  and  sheriffs  of  the  kingdom,  having  received 
their  orders  from  the  king,  thro-igli  the  secretary  of  state,  goes  forth  to  call 
by  proclamation  and  warrant,  all  the  parlies  concerned  in  the  robbery  of  tlie 
sepulchre  together,  on  the  day  appointed  by  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the 
king,  for  the  cause  to  be  tried. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  59 

that  philosophical  institution ;  where  all  the  embellish- 
in  gsciences  o{  Deism,  Atheism,  and  Unbelief,  in  all  their 
diversified  branches,  are  gratuitously  taught.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  king's  audibility  had 
received  the  interesting  and  onerous  contents  of  the 
Jew's  five  letters,  that  his  excursive  mind  began  to 
forecast  at  all  the  alarming  signs  painted  on  the  gloomy 
telegraph  of  the  old  Jew's  fevered  and  distressed  mind, 
which  some  of  those  five  letters  presented  to  his  philo- 
sophical cogitations. 

The  secretary  having  finished  reading  the  letters, 
withdrew — leaving  his  royal  master  to  the  reflections 
and  free  volition  of  his  mind  :  when  it  came  to  pass, 
that  for  a  few  moments,  his  majesty's  serene  mind  was 
much  astounded  with  a  chagrin  sensation,  which  undu- 
lated the  calm  sea  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  philoso- 
phical heart ;  when  a  squall  was  seen  just  ready  to 
burst  forth,  and  every  moment  expecting  to  spread 
itself  through  all  the  elements  of  his  soul,  just  like  a 
northern  blast  at  the  winter  solstice,  when  it  produces 
a  reaction  on  the  warm  quicksilver  in  the  thermometer 
of  his  unbelieving  heart ;  the  crimson  element  of  which, 
was  seen  to  condense  below  zero  ;  so  that  the  reflux 
of  the  fluid  into  the  icy  chambers  of  his  heart,  caused 
a  cadaverous  appearance  in  the  king's  countenance  ; 
when  the  legitimate  lineaments,  and  all  the  other  ex- 
pressive features  of  his  visage^  wore  a  striking  symme- 
try to  his  old  grand  sire,  Cain ;  so  much  so,  that  the 
very  muscles  of  his  face  appeared  to  be  agitating,  with 
the  pugnacious  elements  of  his  deistical  displeasure,  as 
he  paused  and  reflected  on  the  unexpected  fears,  and 
cowardly  misgivings  of  heart,  of  his  once,  as  he  thought, 
bold  coadjutor,  in  the  noble  cause  of  rebuting  and  re- 
jecting the  claims  of  Christ ;  and  his  once  bold  and 
magnanimous  opposition  to  the  spread  of  his  constu- 
perating  gospel — as  he  had  antecedently  viewed  his 
old  friend  Balaam,  (or  the  Jew)  shielded  with  an  inex- 
pugnable panoply  of  unbelief,  and  standing  giant-like, 
on  the  grand  pedestal  of  Jewish  pugnacity;  and  who 
for  many  years,  had  been  with  himself,  rejecting  the 


60 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


pompous  claims  of  Christ  to  the  Messiahship  of  the 
Jews,  and  his  (that  is  to  the  deist's  mind,)  volatile 
claims  of  being  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  whether  Jews 
or  Gentiles. 

After  this  antecedent  view  which  the  deist  had  taken 
of  the  old  Jew's  character,  he  should  now  at  this  late 
hour  of  the  day;  that  is,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  one 
years  after,  be  so  unexpectedly  and  marvellously  sup- 
prised,  with  those  spasms  of  fear,  which  Balaam  experi- 
enced in  the  days  of  Balak,  king  of  the  Moabites  ;  when 
some  extramundane  being,  (that  is,  belonging  to  the 
worlds  beyond  the  verge  of  time,)  caused  the  prophet  to 
exclaim,  as  we  have  once  said — "  let  me  die  the  death  of 
the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his.''  But, 
said  the  king,  in  his  own  mind,  I  am  very  sensible,  that 
no  one  ought  to  be  impugned  for  his  thoughts  ;  as  the 
foregoing  exclamation  was  made  by  his  old  servant  in 
his  juvenile  days  :  so  that,  I  may,  in  some  sense,  pali- 
ate  his  weakness,  on  the  grand  postolatum  or  hypothe- 
sis, which  we  wise  philosophers  have  placed  on  the 
pedestal  of  our  new  doctrine — that  all  men  are  beings 
of  mere  circumstances.  But  that  it  should  now  be  the 
case,  after  so  many  years  of  philosophical  tuition  at 
my  court,  in  all  the  high  branches  of  modern  and 
ancient  wisdom,  knowledge  and  science — with  a  mind 
so  cultivated  and  enriched,  with  every  embellishment 
which  the  philosophy  of  my  court  so  amply  afforded 
his  mind;  and  at  the  same  time,  so  brilliantly  enlighten- 
ed with  the  new  doctrine  of  cbcumsUnias  and  mate- 
rialism, that  he  should  under  all  the  foregoing  privi- 
leges, and  sublime  advantages,  betray  such  weak- 
ness— and  so  far  unman  himself,  as  to  become  the  re- 
creant slave  of  fear;  is  too  much  for  me  to  put  up  with  ; 
merely  because  his  old  ship-of-life  has  made  the  high- 
lands, of  what  is  commonly  called  the  coast  of  eternity; 
and  he  dreams  that  he  sees  the  old  straits  of  death  I 

These  things,  for  a  few  moments,  much  surprised 
the  king  I  (that  is,  the  deists  of  modern  Christendom  ;) 
but  no  sooner  had  these  conflicting  elements  of  his 
majesty's  mind  began  a  little  to  subside,  and  the  undu- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  61 

latory  sea  of  his  passions  became  a  little  calm,  than 
his  royal  highness  clearly  saw,  through  the  telescope  of 
common  sense,  that  whatever  were  the  sudden  fears, 
which  the  mental  and  physical  weakness,  and  other 
local  infirmities  of  our  present  state  bring  on  us,  as  we 
approach  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  his  deisti- 
cal  majesty  began  wisely  to  forecast  in  his  mind,  all  the 
signs  and  gloomy  images  that  Balaarn's  letters  presen- 
ted to  his  high  and  royal  consideration ;  and  he  soon 
became  deeply  convinced  in  his  princely  mind,  that 
the  valedictory  prayer,  and  humble  request  of  his  old 
premier,  Balaam,  was  the  result  of  sound  reason,  based 
on  the  colossus  of  common  sense. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  heated 
quicksilver,  that  raised  the  steam  of  his  passions  and 
deistical  displeasure,  became  pretty  well  evaporated, 
by  means  of  the  valve  of  common  sense,  that  it  so  con- 
densed the  warm  element,  in  the  thermometer  of  his 
passions,  that  it  suddenly  fell  below  zero;  and  for  a 
short  time  produced  a  rejlux  in  the  crimson  elements 
about  his  deistical  heart;  which  greatly  depreciated  the 
former  bloom  of  his  once  youthful  appearance  :  when 
some  slight  shades  of  a  cadaverous  cast  were  seen,  for 
a  few  moments  to  overcast  his  princely  countenance. 

A  NOTE  BY  THE  STENOGRAPHER. 
Now,  by  the  reader's  indulgence,  your  humble  author 
would,  if  he  thought  it  were  not  irrelevant,  to  indulge  his  rov- 
ing fancy,  be  ready  to  draw  this  conclusion,  in  the  purlieu  of 
his  reflecting  mind,  in  a  soliloquy — and  say  :  What  will  be 
the  awful  chagrin,  and  the  gloomy  sensation  of  the  invidious 
Atheist,  and  the  shame  and  overwhelming  confusion  of  the 
scoffing  Deist,  in  that  awful  day,  when  God  shall  judge  all 
the  Deists  and  Atheists,  that  ever  lived  in  the  outward 
Christain  world,  by  that  man  they  so  cordially  hate — even  the 
man  Christ  Jesus  !  whom  he  hath  ordained,  and  also  given 
the  most  plenary  assurance  to  all  men,  in  that  he  raised  him 
from  the  dead  ;  and  has  given  him  wisdom,  power,  knowledge 
and  authority,  to  become  the  only  righteous  Judge  of  quick 
and  dead.  My  soul  come  not  thou  into  their  risible  and 
scoffing   purlieu,  here  on  earth  !  least  you  share  the  j^izC' 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


money  of  their  sins,  plagues,  shame  and  everlasting  contempt, 
in  the  presence  of  God,  Angels  and  Devils,  forever !  The 
reader  will  be  so  good  as  to  pardon  the  writer's  unclassical 
manner  of  preaching. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  his  majesty  had 
recovered  a  sane  state  of  mind — when  in  a  low  solilo- 
quy, in  the  court  of  his  own  conscience — w^here  his 
learned  honour  held  with  himself  a  kind  of  cabinet 
council,  with  the  philosophical  principles  in  his  mind ; 
he  thus  said  to  himself:  That  although  I  do  not  fear 
that  artful  and  ingenious  tale,  called  the  gospel ;  the 
cardinal  object  of  that  obreptitious  system,  which  is 
admirably  calculated  to  locate  its  energies  and  doc- 
trines in  the  minds  of  old  men  and  silly  women,  among 
the  plebeian  herd  of  mankind ;  that  is,  the  strange  doc- 
trine of  elevating  a  crucified  malefactor  on  the  stilts  of 
divinity,  formed  out  of  an  unreasonable  association  of 
ideas,  entirely  at  war  with  every  principle  of  logical 
and  mathematical  demonstration,  That  three  are  one, 
and  that  one  is  three ;  and  placing  him  on  the  pedestal 
of  a  god  :  if  indeed,  such  metaphysical  beings  there  be, 
in  any  extra  mundane  state,  who  live  independent,  and 
unassociated  with  the  eternal  laws  of  matter,  of  which 
the  ratiocinating  powers  of  my  mind  does  entertain 
many  a  serious  doubt,  especially  when  I  place  my 
philosophical  eye  at  my  long  telescope,  and  take  a  peep 
at  the  trackless  field,  or  rather  boundless  empire  of 
nature  ;  I  am  very  often  led  to  draw  this  conclusion : 
That  matter  is  all  the  frightful  and  conscience-troub- 
ling gods,  we  men  of  wisdom  and  science  have  to  fear 
in  this  world. 

And  as  for  extramundane  worlds,  I  have  long,  ere 
this  day,  closely  drilled  and  daily  disciplined  my  mind, 
so  that  whenever  I  experience  the  spasms  of  conscience 
to  give  me  the  least  pain  or  uneasiness,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  my  heart,  I  then  force  my  mind  into  a 
calm  acquiescence  of  the  doctrine  of  materialism ;  so 
that  I  neither  honour,  fear,  nor  regard  any  solitary  (or, 
as  the  Jews  have  it,)  holy  God,  nor  any  of  the  imagi- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  63 

nary  gods  of  the  gentiles ; — much  less  do  I  fear  or  en- 
tertain in  my  mind,  that  any  serious  consequences  will 
arise,  to  the  least  deterioration  of  the  refulgent  glory 
of  my  reign  and  kingdom,  by  having  the  highest  court 
in  my  empire  thrown  open,  and  calling  together  all  the 
forensick  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  my  realm,  into  one 
legal  focus  of  operation ; — and  in  the  most  careful  and 
legal  manner,  to  publicly,  in  open  court,  before  the 
philosophical  vision  of  all  my  enlightened  subjects, 
legally  investigate  the  robbery  of  this  sepulchre,  of  the 
crucified  body  of  that  solitary  malefactor,  called  Christ. 
And  also,  to  test  his  pompous  claims  to  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  the  Jews  ;  as  well  as  his  being  the  only  Saviour 
of  mankind;  who,  when  at  Pilate's  bar,  (and  by  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  was  transfixed  on  a  Roman  cross, 
on  the  summit  of  Mount  Calvary,)  manifested  on  the 
whole  telegraph  of  his  character,  nothing  that  any 
philosophical  mind,  to  this  day  could  ever  discover,  but 
a  most  repulsive  exhibition  of  the  most  extreme  imbe- 
cility of  human  nature. 

And  though  as  a  prince,  philosopher  and  deist,  it  is 
perhaps  beneath  my  wisdom  and  dignity — and  with 
ancient  Festus,  I  long  doubted  of  all  those  questions  of 
religious  superstition,  of  any  of  my  plebeian  or  patri- 
cian subjects,  about  matters  of  worship — whether  it  is 
called  the  mythology  of  the  heathen,  or  the  theism  of 
the  Jews,  or  the  theology  of  the  christians  :  for  I  have 
looked  on  all  these  things,  as  a  mere  sleepy  opiate  for 
the  vulgar ;  and  only  calculated  to  form  a  downy  pil- 
low for  the  plebeian  herds  of  my  subjects,  in  their  ex- 
piring moments,  to  rest  their  weary  heads  upon. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  his  royal  majesty 
had  ended  this  interlocutory  soliloquy,  in  the  cabinet  of 
his  own  mind — when  his  philosophical  honour  paused, 
and  came  to  this  wise  conclusion :  and  calling  in  his 
private  secretary,  said  to  him  :  Although  I  experience 
an  utter  aversion  to  all  systems  of  religion,  and  a  philo- 
sophical detestation  to  the  idea  of  a  God,  heaven,  hell, 
spirits,  angels,  and  to  ghosts  ;  yet  because  my  old  faith- 
ful servant  and  former  premier,  so  onerously  prays  for 


64  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

such  an  indulgence  in  his  old  days  ;  and  as  it  is  not  de- 
teriorating from  my  dignity  to  grant  such  a  fovour, 
Balaam's  valedictory  prayer  shall  be  most  benignly 
granted. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  in  process  of  time,  that  his  royal 
highness  gave  the  most  preremptory  orders  to  the  high 
marshal  of  his  kingdom  of  Infidelity,  to  call  a  special 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  be  held,  first  over  the  cru- 
cified body  of  Christ ;  and  also,  to  try  the  eleven  disci- 
ples of  Christ,  for  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre.  And, 
by  royal  proclamation,  to  have  all  persons  concerned 
in  the  said  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  out  of 
the  sepulchre,  brought  to  trial :  That  is,  by  clothing 
the  marshal  and  high  sheriff  of  his  kingdom,  with 
plenary,  civil  and  military  powers,  to  be  bi'ought  forth- 
with into  the  high  court  of  Areopagus. 

Done  at  our  Palace,  in  the  royal  city  of  Infidelity,  king- 
dom of  Deism,  and  land  of  Atheism,  in  the  year  of 
our  reign,  old  style,  5835,  or  1831.  By  his  royal 
majesty's  orders,  and  the  great  seal  of  the  state. 

^sEal.^I  unbelief,  Sec'ry. 


To  Ms  excellency  Carnal  Reason,  Grand  JMarshal  of  the  empire  of  Un- 
belief, and  the  High  Sheriff  of  the  Kingdom  of  Fhilosophy  and  Beism. 
See' that  the  Marshal  and  Sheriff' fail  not. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  65 


CHAFTEa  I, 

The  first  day  of  the  trial  of  the  rohhery  of  the  sepulchre  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 

The  author  sendeth  greeting — to  all  .whom  it  may 
concern,  to  come  to  this  court  and  hear  or  read  for 
themselves ;  as  every  child  of  Adam  has  a  legacy  to 
obtain,  in  the  righteous  decision  of  this  court,  if  they 
will  truly  seek  for  the  same. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  day  which  was 
set  apart  in  the  royal  proclamation,  had  fully  come,  for 


Figure  No.  1.  The  court  of  Law  and  inquest  convened,  to  try  the  disci- 
ples, on  the  charge  of  robbing  »he  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

No.  2.  Justice,  with  its  drawn  sword  of  impartiality. 

No.  3.  Truth  weighing  all  the  evidence — that  is,  or  shall  be  given  into 
this  high  court,  against  the  prisoners;  who  in  the  course  of  this  trial,  may 
be  brought  to  the  bar  of  this  coui't. 

No.  4.  The  five  judges,  who  have  been  appointed  by  the  king  to  try  this 
cause. 

No.  5.  Carnal  Reason,  and  Vain  Philosophy— the  former  pointing  the 
finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ-— the  latter  viewing  the  heavens. 

No.  6.  The  States-general,  who  opens  the  trial  of  robbing  the  sepulchre. 

No.  7.  The  empty  coffin,  -without  the  body  of  Christ. 

No.  8.  The  twelve  jury  meri  pannelled,  and  in  the  box. 

No.  9.  The  clerk's  table,  where  the  juror's  and  witnesses  are  affirraed. 

No.  10.  The  galleries  filled  with  spectators. 
p2 


66  CimiST  REJECTED. 

the  trial  of  the  eleven  disciples,  who  have  been  charged, 
first,  by  Caiaphas  and  the  Roman  guards ; — secondly, 
by  the  Jew^ish  nation,  for  these  eighteen  hundred 
years ; — and  thirdly,  by  philosophers,  and  the  Deists  of 
Christendom,  more  or  less,  for  the  last  three  hundred 
years  of  the  christian  era,  had  arrived,  for  to  try  the 
eleven  disciples  for  stealing  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

The  appointed  day,  by  lav^^,  having  fully  come,  the 
grand  court  of  Areopagus,  vs^as  thrown  open  by  royal 
orders,  for  the  entire  use  and  legal  accommodation  of 
all  the  parties,  that  were  either  concerned  or  interest- 
ed in  the  prosecution  of  this  solemn  trial.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  that  early  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day,  as 
soon  as  the  officer  of  the  court  had  thrown  open  the 
doors  of  the  court-house,  the  court  was  soon  filled  with 
Deistical,  Jewish  and  Christian  spectators;  and  the 
iles  and  areas  were  crowded  with  the  plebeian  multi- 
tude. 

As  soon  as  the  rush  into  the  court  was  over,  the 
Chief,  with  his  four  associate  Judges,  from  the  circuit 
courts  of  the  kingdom,  arrived  and  entered  the  court, 
taking  their  seats  on  the  bench,  followed  by  a  vast 
number  of  Civilians  from  all  the  near  and  distant  parts 
of  the  Roman  Empire  : — many  of  them  it  is  true,  had 
come  out  of  mere  curiosity,  to  see  and  hear  this  singu- 
lar trial,  of  the  eleven  disciples,  for  robbing  the  old  cus- 
tom-house of  sin  and  death. 

When  these  forensic  gentlemen  had  all  taken  their 
seats  within  the  purlieu  of  the  bar — the  next  personage 
of  distinction  that  arrived,  and  took  his  location  before 
the  bar,  was  the  States-general,  or  crown  barrister, 
exciting  the  greatest  anxiety  in  the  multitude  for  the 
trial  to  commence, 

The  hour  of  court  business  having  fully  come,  the 
clerk  called  silence ! — and  proceeded  in  a  graceful  man- 
ner to  discharge  all  the  legal  rules  of  etiquette,  and 
other  forensic  customs  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest. 

The  chief  Judge  next  arose,  and  presented  an  elegant 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  67 

mien  before  the  court ;  and  gracefully  announced,  with 
a  clear  intonation  of  voice,  that  the  bench  were  all  in 
obsequious  waiting  for  this  singular  trial  to  proceed  : 
when  he  again  resumed  his  seat. 

The  States-general  then  arose,  (whose  legal  function 
it  was  to  open  the  prosecution,)  and  presented  himself 
in  front  of  the  bar,  before  the  Judges  and  Jury,  with  a 
roll  of  black  parchment  in  his  left  hand  ;  containing  a 
declaration  of  the  crimes,  and  other  charges  of  malevo- 
lence, that  the  Grand-jury  had  found  in  their  bills,  and 
preferred  against  the  parties  implicated  in  the  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  When 
the  crown  lawyer  signified  to  his  learned  honour,  the 
Chief  Judge,  that  he  was  in  legal  readiness  on  the  part 
of  his  sovereign,  and  the  laws  of  his  realm,  to  open  the 
prosecution  of  i/?e  cause,  now  pending  at  the  bar.  His 
honour,  the  Chief  Judge,  signified  to  the  States-attorney 
to  proceed,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown  ;  when  the  bar- 
rister read  with  a  sonorous  voice,  in  the  audibility  of 
the  court,  the  royal  notification  sent  throughout  the 
vast  empire  of  ancient  Rome,  to  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  the  late  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  by  the 
hands  of  the  chief  marshal  and  sherifif  of  the  kingdom — 
in  the  following  words:  to  wit; — "I,  the  grand  marshal 
of  the  empire,  with  the  high  sherifif  of  our  sovereign  lord 
the  king,  sendeth  greeting — unto  thechief  judges  of  the 
circuit  courts  of  the  empire  ;  whose  names  are  herein 
asserted,  this  our  notification,  which  is,  by  the  royal 
authority  and  the  law  of  the  realm,  in  us  legally  and 
duly  invested ; — that  by  the  special  orders  of  the  king: 
that  your  honours  the  chief  judges  of  the  high  circuit 
courts  of  his  majesty's  realm,  whose  names  are  in  this 
our  declaration  and  notification  given  to  the  number  of 
five ;  that  your  learned  honours  lay  aside  for  the  time 
being,  all  other  trials  and  legal  business,  whatsoever  : 
and  then  proceed  on  the  day  which  this  notification 
points  out  to  your  honours,  to  the  city  of  Athens  and 
court  of  Areopagus,  to  preside  as  judges  on  the  all  im- 
portant trial  of  the  eleven  disciples,  for  robbing  the  old 
custom-house  of  death  of  the  crucified  body  of  a  dan- 


68  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

gerous  and  adventurous  malefactor,  by  the  name  of 
Christ.'' 

The  crown  attorney,  also,  read  to  the  court,  the  man- 
damus, to  all  the  witnesses  and  parties  that  were  more 
or  less  concerned,  or  in  the  least  degree  implicated  in 
this  daring  robbery,  in  the  following  words  :  "Now,  I 
the  chief  marshal,  with  the  high  sheriff  of  imperial 
Rome,  having  by  the  special  command  of  our  sovereign 
lord  the  king,  taken  out  a  special  mandamus,  (that  is, 
a  States  v,'arrant,)  sendeth  this  our  royal  proclamation, 
containing  a  declaration  and  lawful  notification  to  all 
the  under  named  persons,  in  this  our  special  warrant — 
to  wit :  the  person  of  Christ,  whether  dead  or  alive  ; — 
secondly,  his  sacred  honour,  Caiaphas  the  high  priest 
of  the  Jews; — thirdly,  his  civil  honour,  Pontius  Pilate, 
the  Roman  Governor  of  Judea ; — fourthly,  the  centu- 
rions who  crucified  Christ; — fifthly,  the  Roman  guards; 
and  sixthly,  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ.  Now,  there- 
fore, w^e  the  marshal  and  sheriff  of  our  lord  the  king, 
do  thus  according  to  law,  duly  and  legally  notify  and 
command  you  all,  whose  names  are  written,  in  legible 
characters,  in  this  our  special  warrant,  declaration,  and 
lawful  notification  to  you  all,  the  foregoing  named  per- 
sons, in  the  name  of  our  sovereign  lord  the  king,  and 
under  the  righteous  sanction  of  the  Magna-charta  of 
his  realm.  We  therefore  command  and  legally  notify 
you,  all  and  each  one  of  you,  in  particular,  both  indi- 
vidually, and  the  whole  of  you  collectively,  that  you 
do  all,  who  are  named  in  this  our  special  warrant,  that 
by  laying  aside  all  your  earthly  business,  crafts,  call- 
ings, avocations  and  all  scientific  professions  whatever; 
so  that  each  of  you  do,  in  your  proper  person  or  per- 
sons, appear  at  the  grand  court  of  Areopagus,  in  the 
city  of  Athens,  in  the  empire  of  Rome,  on  the  day  we 
have  thus  legally  notified  you  all,  in  this  our  warrant; 
so  that  when  you  appear  before  his  majesty's  Chief 
Judges,  in  his  high  court  of  Chancery,  that  you  do  most 
strictly  observe  to  bring  with  you  all  your  witnesses, 
and  other  oral  testimony;  with  all  your  legal  vouchers 
in  writing ;  such  as  papers,  parchment,  books  and  every 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  OU 

Other  class  and  character  of  writing,  that  has  any  col- 
lateral, circumstantial,  direct  or  even  presumptive 
bearing  on  the  merits  of  the  case  to  be  tried;  with  such 
learned  and  legal  council,  as  your  own  personal  know- 
ledge of  the  merits,  or  demerits  of  your  own  case  may 
imperiously  require;  so  that  the  court  may  proceed 
with  the  trial  without  any  hindrance  or  delay. 

"Therefore,  we  again  iterate  our  rommand  to  you  all, 
that  you  do  not  fail  in  the  fell  discharge  of  all  the  moral, 
civil  and  legal  duties,  that  we  by  the  legal  power,  which 
our  sovereign  and  his  laws  have  invested  in  us,  do  on- 
erously and  imperiously, vby  the  royal  authority  in  this 
our  warrant,  have  laid  you  a.11  under:  and  now  see  that 
you  all  fail  not,  at  tire  peril  of  your  lives,  fortunes  and 
sacred  honours.  God  save  the  king,  and  the  common- 
wealth.    Amen." 

The  notification  to  the  judges,  and  the  warrant  to 
the  parties  in  the  trial  being  read  to  the  court,  by 
the  crown  barrister,  the  Chief  Judge  rose  and  inquir- 
ed if  the  opposite  counsel,  on  the  part  of  the  person  of 
Christ,  was  in  legal  readiness  to  proceed  with  his 
client's  trial ;  as  the  judge  observed,  that  he  perceived 
it  to  be  first  on  the  docket  of  the  court,  and  in  the  con- 
secutive order  of  the  bills,  which  the  grand  jury  have 
presented  to  this  court.  Then  the  judge  again  asked  if 
the  defendant's  counsel  w^as  ready  for  trial ;  but  there 
was  no  one  in  court  that  gave  an  answer  ; — at  which 
the  judges  and  court  greatly  marvelled. 

Then  the  States-attorney  rose,  and  with  his  promp- 
tership  to  the  cryer  of  the  court — who,  with  his  usual 
vociferous  voice,  in  the  legal  form  of  words  used  in 
courts  on  those  occasions,  called  the  person  of  Christ, 
whether  dead  or  alive,  to  make  his  appearance  at  the 
bar.  When  the  sheriff's  officer  brought  in  the  coflfin, 
(or  sepulchre  in  which  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  had 
been  safely  placed,  after  it  was  taken  down  from  the 
cross,)  and  placed  the  same  in  the  open  area  before  the 
bar  of  the  court  and  in  front  of  the  jury  box. 

This  being  done,  the  Chief  Judge  observed  to  the 
court,  that  he  augured  through  his  forensick  glasses, 


7P  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

and  his  long  practical  acquaintance  with,  and  know- 
ledge of  court  business,  that  this  sombre  trial,  now 
pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  would  be  most  likely 
to  occupy  the  court  for  several  days ;  when  he  [com- 
manded the  cryer  (according  to  all  the  former  usages 
of  this  court,  in  similiar  cases  observed,)  to  notify  the 
court,  (with  his  usual  sonorous  voice,)  that  all  other 
trials  and  suits  that  stood  in-nonsecutive  order  on  the 
docket  of  the  court,  with  the^arties,  counsel,  witnesses 
and  jurors  concerned  therein — that  they  are  all  dis- 
charged from  any  longer  durance  before  the  bar  of  this 
High  court  of  Chancery, — until  the  trial  of  the  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  should 
be  finally  finished. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  all  the  parties 
belonging  to  other  suits  had  retired,  the  court  proceed- 
ed to  prosecute  the  case  of  the  body  of  Christ — which 
was  supposed  to  be  in  the  coffin  before  its  bar.  And 
as  soon  as  silence  pervaded  the  legal  elements  of  this 
court,  the  States-attorney  ordered  the  under  officer  of 
the  sheriff",  to  open  the  cofliin ;  so  that  the  whole  court 
might  see  for  themselves,  the  deteriorating  body  of 
Christ. 

But  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  ofliicer  had,' with  his 
hammer,  broken  open  the  coffin,  behold  !  there  was  no 
person,  either  dead  or  alive,  in  the  coffin!  And  as  every 
eye  in  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  were  very 
anxiously  endeavouring  to  get  the  last  peering  view, 
at  this  wonderful  and  mysterious  prisoner;  and  especially 
all  the  risible  spectators  in  the  galleries  of  the  court — 
were  in  anxious  waiting  to  get  the  last  sight  of  this 
subdolous  criminal ; — but  when  the  whole  court  had 
fully  ascertained,  that  this  mysterious  being  was  neither 
in  court  dead  or  alive— nor  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom, 
that  it  suddenly  produced  a  most  sorrowful  re-action 
on  all  their  risible  and  scoffing  sensibilities ;  and  filled 
their  minds,  for  a  moment,  with  the  most  chagrined 
disappointment : — when  the  whole  court  experienced 
something  like  an  electrical  shock  of  solemn  fear,  to  in- 
voluntarily spread  itself  through  all  the  Jewish  and 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  71 

Beistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  galleries  of  the 
court.  When  carnal  Reason,  and  vain  Philosophy,  who 
were  in  the  small  gallery  of  the  court,  did  not  appear 
near  so  volatile  as  before;  nevertheless,  it  came  to  pass, 
that  when  this  unfelicitous  sensation,  which  had  for  a 
few  moments  rather  embargoed  the  insidious  faculties 
of  the  spectators  in  court,  had  a  little  subsided,  that  the 
crown  barrister  issued  out  a  mandamus,  (that  is  a  writ 
of  caption,  or  if  the  reader  prefers  the  idea,  a  bench 
warrant,  for  the  marshal  and  the  high  sheriff,  who 
had  been  all  legally  appointed  and  delegated,  with 
plenary  powers,  and  legal  authority,  to  fully  execute 
their  duty,)  so  that  the  marshal  and  sheriff  might  be 
brought  forthwith  into  court.  When  the  officer  of  this 
high  court  of  Chancery,  holding  a  superior  jurisdiction 
over  all  the  civil  officers  in  the.  realm,  served  the  royal 
process  on  the  marshal  with  the  sheriff,  who  were  soon 
brought  in  before  the  bar ; — and  when  they  appeared 
at  the  bar  of  the  court,  his  learned  honour,  the  States- 
attorney  rose,  and  closely  examined  both  the  marshal 
and  high  sheriff,  on  the  charge  of  delinquency,  in  their 
official  duty : — -repremanding  them,  at  the  same  time, 
with  their  shameful  dereliction  in  not  fulfiling  their 
orders,  and  faithfully  discharging  their  official  duties, 
in  not  bringing  the  body  of  Christ  into  court,  either 
dead  or  alive. 

His  learned  honour  went  on,  just  like  all  other  crown 
servants,  to  discharge  his  legal  horn  of  vituperating 
thunder  on  the  heads  of  the  officers,  whom  the  royal 
authority  had  clothed  with  a  panoply  of  civil  and  mar- 
tial power,  to  bring  all  the  parties  implicated  in  the 
robbery  into  court ;  charging  the  marshal  and  the  high 
sheriff,  with  a  shameful  remissness,  in  not  empowering 
suitable  officers  to  arrest,  and  seize  the  body  of  Christ, 
whenever  they  might  find  it ;  whether  dead  or  alive — 
either  in  this  earthly  state,  or  in  any  extra-mundane 
dispensation  whatever. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  crown  law- 
yer had  in  some  small  degree,  eased  his  labouring  cloud 
of  its  foul  waters,  and  his  windy  vituperating  thunder- 


72 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


cloud  had  passed  over  the  court,  he  sat  down  and  said 
no  more. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  crown  bar- 
rister had  taken  his  seat,  that  the  grand  marshal  of  the 
Roman  empire  rose,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  high 
sheriff,  who  had  been  by  the  sovereign  pleasure  of  the 
king  associated  with  him,  to  cause  the  parties  named  in 
the  special  warrant  to  make  their  appearance  at  court  ; 
but,  more  especially,  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

The  marshal  having  risen  with  the  sheriff,  turned 
himself  to  the  bar,  and  facing  the  judges  and  jury, 
made  the  following  wise  and  judicious  extenuation,  for 
their  not  being  able,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  letter  of 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice,  with  its  drawn  sword. 

No.  2.  Truth  weighing-  all  the  evidence  that  shall  be  given  into 
this  court,  by  all  the  parties  concerned  in  this  trial. 

No.  3.  The  grand  court  of  Areonagus,  with  the  five  Judges,  ap- 
pointed to  try  this  mysterious  cause  of  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the 
body  of  Christ. 

No.  4.  The  marshal  and  high  sheriff  of  the  empire,  pleading  at  the 
bar — Their  faithfubiess  in  the  full  discharge  of  all  their  official 
duties,  which  the  laws  and  special  command  of  the  king  had  laid 
them  under. 

No.  5.  The  twelve  jurymen  in  the  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  73 

the  law  to  discharge  their  official  duties — in  relation  to 
bringing  the  crucified  body  of  that  malefactor,  who  is 
called  Christ,  into  court  this  day,  in  the  following 
words, 

"  May  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  Judges, 
with  all  the  other  learned  and  honourable  gentlemen  of 
this  bar  : — I  shall  humbly  and  obsequiously  pray  your 
learned  honours,  to  grant  the  indulgence,  if  it  is  not 
irrelevant  at  this  bar,  for  us  to  plead  our  own  cause, 
before  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest ;  as  I  wish  to 
be  permitted  to  place  the  following  category  of  my 
mind  before  the  court :  [When  the  judges  signified  to 
the  marshal  to  proceed,]  which  arises,  please  your 
honours,  out  of  the  great  sea  of  common  sense  ;  and  I 
likewise  experience  a  further  boldness,  in  the  gratuitous 
discharge  of  a  conscientious  duty  I  owe  to  myself  and 
my  associate,  in  viewing,  at  this  moment,  those  impar- 
tial signs  that  I  have  always  seen,  on  the  high  and  for- 
ensick  telegraph  of  this  court,  in  all  its  legal  acts  and 
proceedings ;  which,  may  it  please  your  honours,  has 
always,  antecedent  to  this  trial,  led  me  to  view  this 
court,  as  the  most  enlightened  court  in  the  empire,  or 
even  in  the  whole  world.  Therefore,  I  shall  be  led  to 
consider,  not  only  the  patience  and  indulgence  of  this 
court  as  gratuitously  granted  me ;  but  also,  the  pro- 
found attention  of  your  learned  honours,  the  judges, 
with  the  whole  of  the  learned  elements  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  while  I  shall  endeavour 
steadily  to  lead  your  minds,  to  converge  its  full  force 
on  a  few  simple  facts,  I  am  about  placing  before  your 
legal  vision,  which  are  as  follows :  That  is,  please  this 
court,  and  all  whom  it  may  concern,  that  in  the  plenary 
discharge  of  our  duty,  there  is  not  a  city,  town,  village, 
hamlet  or  a  solitary  farm-house  in  all  the  vast  dominions 
of  our  sovereign,  whither  we  his  very  humble  and  obedi- 
ent servants,  have  not  been  ourselves,  or  sent  our  under 
officers,  to  search  for,  and  diligently  inquire,  even  into 
the  most  remote  part  of  our  lord's  kingdom,  in  order  to 
arrest  and  seize  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  so  a«  to 
bring  it  before  the  bar  of  this  court. 


74  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

**It  is  true,  we  have  found  the  old  coffin  or  sepulchre 
in  which  the  body  was  placed,  which  we  have  brought 
with  us,  as  your  honours  see  this  day,  is  placed  before 
us  all,  at  the  bar  of  this  court :  but  who  has  embezzled 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  or  made  a  surreptitious  in- 
vasion on  the  sepulchre,  and  conveyed  the  body  off 
where  it  can  never  be  heard  of,  we,  therefore  please 
your  honours  and  the  jury,  cannot  tell  where  the  body 
is.  Therefore  all  the  palhation  I  shall  present  at  the 
bar  of  this  court  to  day,  is  this,  that  both  for  myself, 
and  my  associate  the  high  sheriff;  that  we  have  faith- 
fully discharged  all  our  functions  and  official  duties  as 
far  as  the  gods  and  nature  had  given  us  either  physical 
or  moral  capabilities  so  to  do;  and  my  corollary  is,  that 
even  the  gods  could  do  no  more.  But  I  believe  it 
would  be  a  superfluous  waste  of  words  and  time,  to 
advance  any  thing  more,  by  way  of  palliation  to  this 
enlightened  court :  Therefore,  please  your  honours,  I 
shall  say  no  more ;  but  obsequiously  leave  our  conduct 
with  the  wisdom  and  learning  of  this  impartial  court: 
when  the  grand  marshal  sat  down," 

The  Judge's  opinion  of  the  person  and  character  of  Christ, 
and  judgment  in  favour  of  the  marshal  and  sheriff. 

After  the  marshal  had  taken  his  seat,  the  Chief  Judge 
rose,  and  delivered  to  the  court  his  views  of  the  con- 
duct c^  the  grand  marshal,  and  his  legal  opinion  ;  w^hich 
is  as  follows:  that  he,  in  conjunction  with  his  associates 
on  the  bench,  view  through  the  legal  telescope  of  the 
law,  guided  by  the  helm  of  truth,  and  polar  star  of 
justice,  which  have  always  been  the  cardinal  compass 
and  object  in  use  in  this  court,  and  has  heretofore  so 
characterized  its  legal  proceedings,  in  the  broad  eye  of 
the  world,  as  being  always  prosecuted  with  impartial 
justice  to  all  men;  therefore,  in  unison  with  the  legal 
opinion  of  my  coadjutors  on  my  right  and  left,  which 
it  has  been  the  sovereign  pleasure  of  my  lord  the  king 
to  associate  with  me  on  this  trial — we  present,  as  our 
legal  opinion,  tliat  the  grand  marshal  of  the  empire, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  75 

with  the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  have  faithfully,  (as  the 
civil  officers  of  the  crown,)  discharged  their  share  of  all 
the  official  duties,  which  either  their  sovereign  or  the 
laws  of  this  realm  required  at  their  hands.  And  as 
judges  of  this  court,  we  are  sensible,  that  neither  our 
sovereign  or  the  laws  of  his  kingdom,  demand  from  his 
liege  subjects,  either  physical,  civil,  or  moral  impossi- 
bilities. Therefore,  as  the  legal  organ  of  this  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  I  shall  give  the  marshal  and  sheriff  an 
honourable  acquittal,  from  all  charges  of  delinquency, 
in  any  sense  whatsoever — converging  on  either  their 
moral  or  official  characters. — When  the  marshal  and 
sheriff  rose  and  withdrew  from  the  court  with  honour. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  marshal  and 
sheriff  had  withdrawn,  that  the  Chief  Judge  rose  and 
said — May  it  please  the  court  to  indulge  me  with  its 
patience  and  attention  for  a  few  moments,  while  I  ex- 
press my  views  of  the  character  of  that  outlawed  break- 
jail,  or  in  other  words,  that  troublesome  being  called 
Christ  ;  who  appears  to  me,  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  jurisprudence  of  earthly  laws.  Therefore,  this  out- 
lawed break-jail,  has  put  to  open  defiance  the  whole 
Magna-Charta  of  Roman  laws ;  so  that  from  the  mar- 
shal's report  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  it  doth  appear,  that 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
land  of  the  living. 

And  may  it  please  the  court,  our  laws  find  sufficient 
employment  for  its  functionaries,  in  this  mundane  dis- 
pensation, without  stepping  over  the  line  of  demarca- 
tion, and  perplexing  ourselves  with  the  laws  and  juris- 
prudence of  extramundane  worlds ;  or,  if  the  court 
please,  the  regions  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ghosts, 
which  the  plebeian  part  of  mankind  say  lie  beyond  the 
verge  of  time.  Therefore,  may  it  please  this  court, 
we  must,  as  appears  from  the  sheer  law  of  mere  neces- 
sity, let  the  lawless  break-jail  go  at  large,  for  what  he 
is  worth  ;  and  that  shall  be,  if  we  should  ever  find  him, 
within  the  purlieu  of  Roman  law,  an  halter  for  his  neck  ; 
if  9,ny  of  our  police  or  other  civil  officers  of  our  realm, 


76  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

may  hereafter  have  the  good  fortune  to  arrest  him. — 
And  the  judge  sat  down. 

When  a  very  considerable  chagrin  of  disappointment 
was  seen,  like  a  cymmerian  cloud,  (that  is,  a  land  that 
is  overcast  with  fogs,  clouds  and  a  dispensation  of 
darkness,)  to  spread  a  sombre  shade  on  all  the  once 
risible  countenances,  in  the  galleries  of  this  court. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  during  this  transient  sen- 
sation of  the  court,  in  consequence  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  which  could  not  be  found,  either  dead 
or  alive,  that  a  very  distinguished  Roman  attorney, 
who  had,  with  a  large  share  of  public  eclat,  persued  the 
profession  of  Roman  law,  in  most  of  the  high  courts  of 
the  empire,  for  a  number  of  years — who  perchance, 
happened  to  come  into  court  while  his  learned  honour 
the  Chief  Judge  was  delivering  to  the  court  his  legal 
views,  of  the  lawless  character  of  Christ :  when  the  old 
civilian  rose  from  off  his  seat,  and  went  up  to  the  bar 
of  the  courty  and  prayed  to  be  heard  as  counsel  for  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ ;  which  request  was,  by  the 
indulgence  of  the  court,  benignly  granted.  When,  like 
a  wise  scribe  we  somewhere  read  of,  he  very  humbly 
asked  his  learned  honour,  the  Chief  Judge,  Whether 
Roman  law  judged  any  man  as  a  lawless  villain,  and 
an  out-lawed  break-jail,  before  it  had  heard  him  at  its 
impartial  tribunal?  And  as  I  perceive  this  court,  for 
the  first  time,  had  this  day  departed  from  its  inflexible 
justice,  and  judicial  rectitude,  in  the  case  of  the  lost 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre — in  that  this  court 
has,  without  one  legal  witness  to  substantiate  his  guilt : 
or,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  one  solitary 
evidence  to  legally  convict  him  of  a  single  crime,  either 
of  a  civil  or  religious  character — I  therefore  pray  your 
learned  honours,  to  indulge  me,  while  I  humbly  take  the 
liberty  to  ask,  with  all  becoming  deference  to  the  legal 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest.  Whether  it  has  not  been  the  uniform  practice, 
in  all  the  antecedent  judiciary  proceedings  of  our  courts, 
under  the  old  Roman  laws,  not  to  proceed  in  an  illegal 
manner  to  condemn  a  malefactor,  until  both  the  accu- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  /  / 

sed  and  the  accuser  are  brought  face  to  face,  in  open 
court,  and  then,  by  lawful  counsel,  to  implead  each 
other  ? 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges, 
with  the  jury;  I  shall  take  this  long  established  position 
of  Roman  law%  as  the  object  of  my  departure,  on  the 
lantern  of  my  forensick  light-house,  while  I  am  naviga- 
ting the  crucified  body  of  Christ  over  the  bars,  sunken 
rocks,  and  through  the  quicksands,  which  lie  in  the 
dead  sea,  over  which,  by  the  furious  blasts  of  passions 
and  pugnacious  squalls  of  Jewish  hardness  of  heart, 
the  body  of  Christ  has  been  driven,  on  the  dreary  shore 
of  death.  I  shall,  therefore,  by  the  indulgence  of  this 
court,  be  led  to  consider  my  legal  point  of  departure, 
by  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  as  gratuitously 
granted  me  this  day,  as  a  sound  axiom  of  Roman  law: 
Therefore,  may  it  please  the  court,  the  signs  on  our 
legal  lantern,  and  long  established  position  of  Roman 
law  is  this,  That  no  person  should  be  arraigned  before 
the  bar  of  any  one  of  its  courts  by  proxy. 

Now  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  jury,  and  all 
the  spectators  in  this  court  of  law  and  inquest  well 
know,  that  the  supposed  dead  body  of  Christ,  my  client, 
as  I  shall,  if  the  court  will  admit  the  relevancy  of  my 
appellative,  (for  me  to  call  that  mysterious  lyeing  my 
client,)  but  your  learned  honours  well  know,  that  w^e 
lawyers,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  mankind,  are  creatures ; 
or,  if  the  judges  prefer  the  idea,  beings  of  mere  circum- 
stances ;  so  that  you  are  sensible,  that  we  cannot  well 
navigate  a  plea  at  the  bar  of  our  courts,  either  on  the 
part  of  the  defendant  or  plaintiff,  when  w^e  are  sailing 
under  a  free  breeze  of  ratiocination,  (that  is  sound 
reason  and  argument)  before  your  learned  honours, 
without  the  use  of  the  phrase,  my  client.  Having  made 
this  short  apology,  for  presuming,  on  my  part,  to  use 
the  word  iny  client,  in  relation  to  that  mysterious 
character,  who  has  been  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  this 
court — Therefore,  please  your  honours,  my  client  has 
only  been  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  this  court  by  proxy^ 
clothed  at  the  same  time,  like  an  effigy  in  a  black  gar- 

0  2 


78 


CHRIST    REJECTED. 


ment,  labelled  with  a  number  of  immoral  hieroglyphics, 
of  spreading  a  spirit  of  effervescence  among  the  people. 
Your  honours  will  indulge  me  to  particularize  the  pos- 
tulatory  charges,  that  have  been  by  the  Jews,  his  own 
people,  preferred  against  him ;  such  for  instance,  as  his 
contempt  of  the  temple — his  disrespect  of  Caiaphas  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews — and  his  notorious  neglect  of 
going  and  washing  his  hands  and  face,  before  he  enter- 
ed the  feasting  room  of  a  class  of  the  Jewish  religion- 
ists, w^ho  sailed  under  the .  colours  of  Scribes  and 
Pharisees ;  and  at  other  times  being  labelled  with  the 
hieroglyphics  or  signs  of  a  blasphemer  of  the  Mosaick 
worship  ;  with  the  institutes  and  dogmas  of  Moses,  and 
even  of  its  divine  author.  But  all  those  charges,  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  jury, 
are  more  or  less  of  a  postulatory  shade  of  character. 

Now,  may  it  please  the  court  to  indulge  me  to  inform 
them,  that  I  experience  this  day  the  fire  of  Roman 
philanthropy,  to  be  kindling  on  the  forensick  altar  of 
my  heart,  on  the  behalf  of  my  client ;  that  is,  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ ;  whom  I  perceive  is  not  in  court, 
at  least  with  his  tangible  nature  ;  and  as  for  his  omni- 
presence, it  does  not  belong  to  courts  of  Roman  juris- 
prudence, to  adjudicate  in  such  deep  and  unfathomable 
waters,  or  soar  aloft  into  such  untangible  elements 
among  the  abodes  of  the  gods.  And  as  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  is  not  in  court  to  day,  to  plead  its 
own  cause ;  neither  to  employ  legal  counsel  to  plead  its 
case  at  the  bar  of  this  court :  and  that  is  not  all — the 
unfortunate  circumstance  of  the  case,  for  the  plebeian 
culprit,  as  his  enemies  have  been  gratuitously  pleased 
to  characterize  him,  was  so  very  low  in  the  elements 
of  Sliver  and  gold,  in  his  theological  exchequer,  which  I 
make  no  doubt,  but  that  some  of  your  learned  honours, 
the  judges,  have  heard  before  this  day — that  his  pecu- 
niary affairs  where  very  low  when  he  was  in  the  most 
plenary  altitude  of  his  theological  prosperity  ;  even  at 
the  very  time  that  his  warmest  friends  were  led  to 
augur  his  future  greatness,  from  some  of  those  preco- 
cious (that  is,  any  thing  that  appears  ripe  before  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  79 

season  of  maturity,  whether  it  be  a  quahty  of  the  mind 
or  any  other  sign  that  may  be  seen  on  the  youthful 
telegraph  of  a  person's  character)  signs,  which  his  dis- 
ciples saw  in  the  days  of  his  youthful  ministry.  Yes, 
may  it  please  this  court,  when  this  said  Christ  was 
walking  in  the  sunshine  of  his  meridian  glory,  as  a 
marvellous  teacher  sent  down  from  Heaven — and  please 
your  honours,  I  feel  satisfied  in  my  own  mind,  that 
this  court  of  Areopagus,  which  is  said  to  be  in  the 
daily  habit  of  devoting  a  small  portion  of  its  valuable 
time  in  collecting  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth, 
every  new  and  strange  thing  that  daily  takes  place  in 
this  our  little  world,  both  respecting  persons  and 
things ;  so  that,  I  make  no  doubt,  but  your  honours, 
with  the  whole  of  this  enlightened  and  intelligent  court, 
must  have  heard,  that  upon  a  certain  occasion,  my 
client  (whom  some  call  Christ)  had  not  enough  of  the 
necessary  elements  of  silver  and  gold,  in  his  travelling 
theological  chest,  to  pay  a  small  Roman  toll.  And 
please  this  court — it  was  said  of  him,  that  the  poor 
man  went  on  in  his  financial  affairs,  deteriorating 
(that  is  growing  worse)  to  the  day  of  his  demise  on 
the  bloody  cross.  When  the  learned  counsel  paused 
for  a  moment,  and  the  chief  judge  rose  and  informed 
the  court,  the  sun  dial  at  his  window  announced  that 
the  hour  of  adjournment  had  arrived ;  so  the  court 
stood  adjourned,  to  meet  in  this  place  the  ensuing  day. 


80 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  second  day  of  the  trial,  of  the  eleven  disciples,  charged 
both  by  Jews  and  our  modern  Deist  and  Atheist,  of  rob- 
bing the  sepidchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus,  or 
high  court  of  Chancery,  met  pursuant  to  adjournment, 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day,  and  after  the 
customary  routeen  of  court  etiquette  were  over,  the  old 
Roman  lawyer  rose  and  resumed  his  plea,  which  he  left 
unfinished  the  previous  day,  and  said,  May  it  please 
the  learned  and  honourable  gentlemen,  who  this  day 
constitute  the  law  elements  of  this  impartial  court  of 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice,  with  its  di-awn  sword  of  impartiality. 

No.  2.  Truth,  with  its  scales,  weighing  all  the  testimony,  given  in  on  this 
all  important  trial. 

No.  3.  The  five  Judges  who  were  by  royal  authority  appointed  to  try  this 
cause.  V 

No.  4.  The  States-attorney  sitting  in  his  chair,  listening  to  the  arguments 
of  the  old  lawyer. 

No.  5.  The  old  Roman  barrister,  gratuitously  jileading  the  cause  of  the 
escape  of,  or  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

No.  6.  The  empty  coffin. 

No.  7.  The  twelve  jmymen  in  the  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  81 

Chancery — my  object  yesterday  in  placing  the  extreme 
poverty  of  my  client's  circumstances  before  the  view 
of  this  court,  was,  in  the  first  place,  to  relieve  the  court 
from  the  mental  labour  of  setting  the  complicated 
machinery  of  its  mind  into  too  rapid  motion,  so  as 
to  impugn  my  personal  motives,  in  presenting  myself 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  to  plead  and  vindicate  the 
cadaverous  body  of  that  malefactor,  who  Pilate  cruci- 
fied. Therefore,  be  it  known,  please  your  honours  and 
the  jury,  that  my  object  was  on  the  previous  day,  to 
satisfy  and  make  manifest  to  this  intelligent  and  en- 
lightened tribunal,  that  in  consequence  of  the  entire 
ebb-tide,  or,  if  you  please,  low-zvater  in  the  elementary 
sea  of  his  travelling  exchequer,  when  on  earth,  that 
neither  gold,  silver,  copper  nor  iron,  on  my  part,  was 
to  be  expected  from  him.  And  I  experience  a  plenary 
desire  this  morning,  to  present  through  the  medium  of 
this  impartial  and  enlightened  tribunal,  as  a  kind  of 
feast  for  the  skeptical  mind  to  revel  upon — that  is. 
please  this  court,  and  through  this  intelligent  channel, 
as  a  perennial  legal  stream,  the  whole  w^orld,  that  I  am 
not,  nor  never  was,  a  recreant  slave  of  mere  circum- 
stances, according  to  the  sauvity  of  style  of  a  number 
of  very  fine,  wise,  and  knowing  gentlemen  out  of  court, 
who  are  in  the  daily  habit  of  indulging  themselves  in 
the  use  of  this  pleasing  category  ;  that  is,  please  your 
learned  honours,  if  a  person  were  born  in  London, 
Rome,  Constantinople  or  Canton,  he  will  either  be  a 
Protestant,  a  Roman  catholic,  a  Turk,  or  Heathen. 
No:  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of 
this  court,  with  the  impartial  jury  in  the  box  to  my 
right,  I  experience  a  glow  of  Roman  pride  and  inde- 
pendence of  mind,  (let  philosophers  and  wise  men  have 
their  own  opinions  of  the  weakness  of  all  mankind)  so 
that  I  can  this  day  from  my  own  experience,  which  is 
far  better : — the  good  sense  of  your  learned  honours 
well  knows,  than  all  the  chimerical  and  mere  theor- 
etical knowledge  in  the  whole  world ;  so  that  I  can  re- 
but all  such  insidious  charges  preferred  against  me, 
from  those  who  may  be  disposed  to  impugn  my  motives. 


82  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

I  this  day  stand  on  the  colossus  of  Roman  honour;  and 
as  I  have  just  said,  with  an  independent  mind,  guided 
by  the  helm  of  philanthropy,  with  the  free  volition  of 
all  the  mental  and  physical  powers  of  both  body  and 
mind,  unbiased  by  either  civil  or  religious  opinions,  or 
views  of  any  country  under  the  sun. 

And  as  a  free  Roman  citizen,  I  this  day  state  to  the 
court,  that  I  experience  the  fire  to  be  still  flaming  up- 
ward from  off"  the  altar  of  my  Roman  heart ;  so  that 
when  the  civic  fire  ascends  to  the  muse  of  our  gods  of 
justice  and  truth,  it  soon  returns  with  a  re-action  on 
my  mind,  giving  me  a  strong  predilection  to  vindicate 
the  unalienable  privileges  and  rights  of  the  poorest 
citizens  of  our  world,  be  they  either  Christian,  Jew, 
Turk  or  Heathen. 

And  please  your  honours,  if  it  is  not  at  this  time 
rather  presuming  for  me  to  illustrate  my  views  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  with  the  uientiun  of  extra-mundane 
personages ;  I  shall  then  take  the  liberty  to  name  his 
satanick  majesty — -who  is  said,  by  some  people,  to  be 
the  chief  prince  of  the  demons — I  shall,  please  your 
honours,  keep  the  object  in  view,  on  the  lantern  of  my 
legal  light-house — that  our  laws  condemn  no  one  un- 
heard, till  the  accuser  and  the  accused  are  brought 
face  to  face,  in  open  court.  Therefore,  keeping  this 
polar  star  always  in  view, — please  this  court,  by  way 
of  a  similie,  if  his  cymmerian  highness  (that  is  satan) 
were  placed  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  J  should,  as  a 
Roman  lawyer,  insist  on  his  sable  honour  being  entitled 
to  a  full  share  of  equity  and  legal  justice,  according  to 
the  civic  doctrine  of  our  Magna-Charta.  Therefore, 
may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  im- 
partial jury,  it  is  these  unalienable  rights,  which  I  see 
written  on  the  civil  telegraph,  which  contain  the 
glorious  Magna-Charta  of  Roman  law ;  and  which  has, 
as  it  were,  almost  involuntarily  propelled  me  forward, 
to  serve  as  the  counsel  and  advocate  of  the  deceased 
person  of  Christ,  without  a  fee. 

And  now,  to  be  brief  in  my  arguments  before  your 
honours  the  judges  and  jury:— ^I  perceive,  please  the. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  83 

court,  that  the  person  of  Christ  is  the  first  prisoner 
which  the  Grand-jury  has  placed  on  the  consecutive 
order  of  the  bill  of  indictment :  and  is  also  placed  first 
for  trial  on  the  docket  of  the  court ;  and  in  order  to 
save  time,  which  your  honours  good  sense  will,  I  have 
no  doubt,  clearly  see,  without  my  promptership,  is  a 
more  valuable  article,  than  the  fine  gold  of  ophir,  or 
the  pearls  of  the  east ;  yea,  all  the  wisdom,  knowledge, 
science,  riches,  power  and  glory  of  this  mundane  dis- 
pensation, cannot  purchase  or  command  one  solitary 
moment,  to  obsequiously  wait  our  pleasure. 

I  shall,  therefore,  may  it  please  the  court,  now  con- 
fine my  remarks  to  a  mere  epitome  of  the  words  and  pub- 
lic acts  of  my  client,  (who  is  called  Christ,)  previous  to 
his  escape  out  of  the  sombre  states-prison  of  the  king  of 
terrors  ;  if,  indeed,  that  dreadful  catastrophe  be  true, 
that  this  malefactor  (called  Christ,)  broke  through  the 
old  massy  walls  of  the  dungeon  of  death — or,  please 
your  learned  honours,  he  arose  from  the  dead. 

Now  the  first  trait  in  the  character  of  my  client, 
which  I  seriously  wish  to  place  before  the  legal  vision 
of  this  court,  is  this  :  Did  not  my  client,  while  he  was 
running  at  large  through  the  land  of  Judea,  and  the 
streets  of  old  Jerusalem; — I  say — please  this  court.  Did 
not  my  client,  (who  is  called  Christ  to  this  day,  by 
many  people,  (give  to  Caiaphas,  the  then  high  priest  of 
the  Jews,  with  a  class  of  religionists,  w^ho  went  by  the 
name  of  scribes  and  pharisees,  with  all  the  other  sat- 
ellites that  daily  revolved  round  his  holiness: — I  say — 
may  it  please  the  court — Did  not  this  Christ  give  the 
most  explicit,  fair  and  unequivocal  warning,  of  his  in- 
tention, and  malice  a-f ore-thought?  Yes,  if  what  his 
enemies  say  of  him  be  true, — may  it  please  the  court — 
my  client  went  throughout  the  land  of  Judea,  and  its 
towns  and  villages,  and  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem — even 
into  the  very  temple  of  the  same,  announcing  his  pre- 
meditated designs  to  break  out  of  prison — or,  dropping 
my  figure,  to  walk  out  of  the  old  weather-beaten  dun- 
geon of  sin  and  death. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 


S4  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

judges,  when  I  was  but  a  lad,  I  well  remember  to  have 
heard  the  people  say,  that  there  is  honour,  at  times, 
even  among  rogues.  I  am  therefore  led  to  think,  that 
if  the  adage  was  ever  applied  with  truth,  to  any  case 
under  the  sun,  it  certainly  was  in  the  case  of  my  client. 
What  then  please  your  honours,  can  be  more  honour- 
able among  rogues,  than  for  the  midnight  robber  and 
cruel  assassin,  to  go  and  inform  the  good  people  of  the 
house,  of  his  intentions  to  either  rob  or  murder  them 
during  the  night  ?  Would  not  the  court  view  such  a 
robber,  as  acting  up  to  the  old  adage ;  and  that  such 
conduct  is,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  manifesting 
honour  among  rogues  ? 

Therefore,  please  your  honours  ;  now  view  the  con- 
duct of  my  client,  in  regard  to  his  breaking  out  of 
prison  ;  and  your  good  sense  must  admit,  that  if  Christ 
was  a  rogue,  he  came  fully  up  to  the  acme  of  the  adage; 
he  was  an  honourable  one,  and  displayed  the  character 
of  a  night  chevalier,  in  its  superlative  degree  ;  in  giving 
Caiaphas,  with  the  scribes  and  pharisees,  such  plain  and 
pointed  warning  of  his  nefarious  designs,  and  clandes- 
tine intentions. 

Therefore,  the  court,  no  doubt,,  clearly  sees  with  me, 
that  this  open  magnanimous  conduct,  on  the  part  of 
Christ,  gave  to  his  enemies  every  facility  they  could 
reasonably  be  led  to  ask  or  require  of  him.  So  that 
Caiaphas,  with  the  scribes  and  pharisees,  might  go  and 
take  the  most  wise  and  prudent  steps,  and  pursue  the 
most  precautionary  measures — so  that,  please  your 
honours,  the  judges  and  jury — the  high  priest  and  his 
friends  might  go  to  work  in  time,  before  the  resurrec- 
tion storm  came  on,  and  have  the  hatcher  of  iYieprison- 
ship  of  death,  made  secure ;  and  the  dead-light  to 
the  cabin  windows  well  lashed  in ;  and  all  the  upper 
sails  and  spars  of  the  old  hulk,  lowered  down  on  deck  ; 
and  boats,  anchors  and  every  other  article  on  board  the 
floating  and  gloomy  dungeon,  made  well  secure— with 
all  kinds  of  lashing,  bolts  and  massy  bars  ;  so  that  the 
gallant  prison-ship  of  death,  might  triumphantly  out- 
ride the  resurrection-storm^  with  the  same  success  she 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  85 

had  already  displayed  for  four  thousand  years,  over  all 
the  mighty  princes  of  the  earth,  and  the  rest  of  the 
illustrious  dead; — her  unfurled  banners  bidding  de- 
fiance in  the  language  of  triumph  to  the  wisdom,  know- 
ledge and  powers  of  man,  to  arrest  her  progress  or 
tarnish  her  glory. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  with 
this  enlightened  court — As  my  client  was  the  first 
among  the  sons  of  men,  to  throw  out  the  tocsin  of  de- 
fiance against  the  old,  but  gallant  prison-ship  of  death, 
who  had  never,  to  that  day,  seen  nor  met  with  an 
enemy,  that  dare  come  in  sight  of  her. 

I  would  then,  with  all  due  deference  to  the  wisdom 
and  understanding  of  this  impartial  court,  ask  it ;  If 
Caiaphas  and  the  scribes,  with  the  pharisees,  who  ap- 
pear to  be  the  warm  friends  of  this  triumphant  ship, 
would  sit,  with  the  eyes  of  their  understanding  closed, 
and  fold  their  arms  together,  after  the  notorious  warn- 
ings which  Christ  had  given  them  ;  and  quietly  and 
calmly  remain  inactive?  No,  please  your  honour,  I 
humbly  trow  not. 

Does  not  even  the  laws  of  common  sense  announce 
to  this  court,  that  both  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  with  his  friends,  would  have  gone  assiduously  to 
work,  and  by  the  timely  application  of  every  precau- 
tionary measure,  which  either  the  physical,  military, 
civil  and  their  ecclesiastical  resources  could  afford 
them, — which  at  that  time  they  had  the  most  plenary 
command  of,  would  by  his  open  enemies  be  fully  acted 
out ;  and  that  too  by  such  a  combination  of  wisdom, 
art  and  skill  on  their  part,  went  and  formed  such  an 
inexpugnable  barrier  against  the  threatnings  of  Christ, 
and  with  all  the  aforesaid  attributes  of  wisdom,  skill 
and  strength,  surround  the  old  prison-ship  of  death ; — 
or,  please  this  court,  his  sepulchre,  with  an  invulner- 
able wall,  through  which  all  the  powers  of  man  could 
not  pass.  So  that  all  I  have  to  say,  by  way  of  com- 
miseration in  the  behalf  of  Caiaphas  and  his  friends, 
in  the  said  loss  they  have  sustained,  if  they  did  not 
take  care  of  this  night-mare — this  break-jail — this  cru- 

H 


86  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

cified  body  of  my  client — it  was  their  own  fault, — and 
not  my  client's. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
with  the  jury,  Whether  my  client  was  a  nefarious 
break-jail  or  not ;  one  thing  I  can  assure  this  court  of, 
that  through  the  whole  of  the  business,  my  client  has 
acted  a  most  noble  and  magnanimous  part.  And  I 
now  fondly  hope,  that  this,  which  is  but  an  imperfect 
portrait  of  his  person,  and  history  of  his  character,  will 
entirely  relieve  my  client,  in  the  legal  eye  of  this  court, 
from  all  those  dark  spots,  which  are  seen  on  the  dusk 
of  his  character,  through  the  dense  clouds,  red  lightning, 
and  the  rumbling  thunder,  which  the  lightning  rod  of 
the  States-general's  tongue,  with  the  intonations  of  a 
Demosthenes's  voice,  endeavoured  to  draw  down  on 
my  client,  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  clothed  with  a 
panoply  of  mail,  showing  forth  the  strength  of  an  Her- 
cules, while  endeavouring  to  clothe  my  client  with  a 
nebulous  shade  of  character. 

The  court,  I  presume,  retains  in  its  recollection  from 
yesterday,  when  his  very  learned  honour,  the  States- 
attorney,  opened  the  prosecution,  and  with  what  legal 
ingenuity  his  learned  honour  made  use  of  all  his  mental 
powers,  by  spreading  over  the  person  of  my  client  the 
most  onerous  weight  of  guilt,  under  a  vast  number  of 
postulatory  charges.  But  as  good  fortune  would  have 
it,  his  learned  honour,  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  could 
not  find  a  solitary  witness  to  substantiate  a  single  al- 
legation he  preferred  against  him;  although  he  charged 
him  with  being  a  ring-leader  of  a  lawless  banditti,  going 
through  the  land  of  Judea,  constuperating  the  people, 
by  spreading  a  spirit  of  effervescence  throughout  civil 
society,  and  by  exciting  the  people  to  bring  about  an 
entire  change  in  the  old  doctrines  of  their  national 
theology,  and  a  total  nullification  of  all  the  then  exist- 
ing civil  and  religious  ordinances,  both  among  Jews 
and  Gentiles. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  honours,  the  judges,  with 
the  court  and  jury — this  sable  portrait,  which,  like  a 
panoply  of  the  wildest  crimes  he  arrayed  my  client  in. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  87 

at  the  bar  of  this  court,  I  now  humbly  ask  the  court,  if 
the  States-attorney  has,  by  deep  and  sound  legal  argu- 
ment, given  the  court  one  solitary  proof  of  guilt,  in  any 
one  of  the  onerous  charges  he  preferred  against  my 
client  (who  is  called  Christ)? 

It  is  true,  please  your  honours,  the  attorney  has 
given  this  court,  by  his  careful  and  well  timed  inge- 
nuity, of  the  intonation  of  his  legal,  and  at  other  times, 
vociferous  voice ; — I  say  again,  he  has  given  this  court 
nothing  more ! — and  indulge  me  to  add — nothing  less 
than  mere  pompous  postulatum  :  that  is,  please  your 
honours,  a  windy  discharge  of  his  air-gun,  loaded  only 
with  some  old  mustard-seed  shot,  of  noisy  court  vocabu- 
lary ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  produced  no  greater 
effect  than  just  causing  the  wounds  and  sores  of  my 
client  to  experience,  in  those  tender  parts,  especially 
the  w^ounds  he  had  recently  received  by  the  scourge  of 
the  Roman  soldiers,  and  the  nails  of  his  cross,  to  bleed 
a  little. — But,  I  will  say  no  more  in  reply  to  the  States^ 
general's  plea  against  my  client. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the 
judges,  with  the  impartial  jury  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  to  indulge  me  as  counsel  for  the  de- 
fendant to  say,  that  under  the  impartial  views  I  have 
conscientiously  given  at  the  bar  of  this  courts  of  my 
client's  character, — deeply  sensible,  that  my  ratiocina- 
ting powers  are  below  mediocrity,  in  the  presence  of 
this  enlightened  and  intelligent  court,  which  causes 
me,  in  my  retired  and  reflecting  moments,  to  inw^ardly 
sigh,  and  my  palpitating  heart  to  heave  many  an  undu- 
latory  groan,  for  the  want  of  the  elements  of  some 
supra-mundane  language,  to  convey  the  sensibilities  of 
my  mind  in  some  richer  vocabulary,  than  the  vernacu- 
lar tongue  of  my  forefathers;  in  order  to  present  to  the 
good  sense  and  forensick  wisdom  of  this  enlightened 
court,  the  struggling  fetus  of  my  labouring  mind,  and 
to  fully  express  before  this  court,  the  exalted  magnani- 
mity of  my  client's  conduct,  in  all  that  relates  to  his 
loss  or  escape  out  the  sepulchre. 

Now,  i^ay  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 


88  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

and  the  impartial  jury  of  this  court,  Did  not  my  client, 
who  is  called  Christ,  freely  give  to  Caiaphas  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  and  his  pious  satellites  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  with  the  Jewish  people  at  large,  such 
direct,  pointed  and  notorious  warning  of  his  nefarious 
and  clandestine  designs,  (that  is,  please  this  court, 
using  the  language  of  Caiaphas  and  the  rest  of  his 
enemies,)  that  if  they  should  in  their  pugnacious,  or  if 
your  learned  honours  please,  their  quarrelsome  mo- 
ments, kill  my  client,  and  then  cast  his  dead  body  into 
the  dark  dungeon  or  gloomy  bastile  of  death — that  he, 
the  said  Christ,  possessed  both  the  skill  and  adroitness 
to  make  a  new  key  out  of  some  of  the  supra-mundane 
elements,  which  my  client  called  by  the  mysterious 
name  of  immortality ;  with  which  it  was  my  client's 
decided  intention  to  unlock  the  massy  doors  of  the  old 
states  prison,  that  sable  bastile  of  sin  and  death;  which 
prison,  please  this  wise  and  intelligent  court,  has  in  all 
ages  of  the  world,  even  by  the  potent  kings  and  princes 
of  the  earth,  with  all  the  rich,  wise  and  great  men 
thereof: — so  that  this  dungeon  or  prison-ship  of  death, 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court, 
has  ever  been  considered  as  entirely  invulnerable, 
against  all  prisoners  which  the  righteous  and  strong 
arm  of  the  civil  and  military  laws  of  the  kingdoms,  and 
states  of  the  earth,  at  any  time  antecedently  to  the  im- 
prisonment of  my  client,  which  the  officers  of  the  law 
placed  within  its  strong  and  massy  walls  and  doors  in 
safe  keeping  in  durance  for  ever. 

This,  please  your  honours,  being  the  well  known 
nature  of  the  case,  with  respect  to  my  client,  w  ho  is 
called  Christ ;  I  say,  then,  please  this  court,  with  the 
wisdom,  knowledge  and  good  sense,  I  this  moment  per- 
ceive to  be  located  in  the  intelligent  lineaments  of  its 
forensick,  or,  if  you  please,  legal  countenances,  I  hum- 
bly appeal  again  to  the  good  sense  of  this  court,  and 
please  your  learned  honours,  through  the  medium  of 
this  court,  and  all  rational  and  intelligent  beings  on  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth — I  ask  again,  for  I  wish  that  all 
persons  as  well  as  this  court,  clearly  to  understand  me. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  89 

Can  any  person,  of  the  mediocrity  of  common  sense, 
reasonably  blame  this  ingenious  key-maker,  for  opening 
the  old  iron-bound  door  of  the  bastile  of  sin  and  death, 
and  making  his  final  elopement,  from  the  damp  walls, 
and  cymmerian  asmosphere,  and  sombre  shades,  which 
has  been  for  so  many  ages,  within  the  walls  of  that 
gloomy  dungeon,  in  the  lower  hold  of  the  old  prison- 
ship  of  death,  that  has  been  sailing,  like  the  enemy  of 
Job,  to  and  fro,  in  the  nebulous  seas  of  eternal  night  ? 
But,  please  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  jury, 
by  casting  my  vision  on  the  dial  of  this  court,  it  oner- 
ously admonishes  me,  of  my  promise  of  brevity,  in  my 
plea  before  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, in  the  justification  of  my  client's  conduct,  in 
breaking  out  of  jail;  but  I  devoutly  pray  the  court,  not 
to  impugn  my  motives,  in  my  pleading,  in  the  behalf 
of  this  singular  break-jail ;  as  if  it  were  my  design  to 
justify  all  malefactors  in  breaking  out  of  prison,  who 
have  been  sent  there  for  their  crimes  and  manifold  sins 
and  wickedness  ;  no,  please  the  court,  it  is  not  my  de- 
sign to  nullify  the  arm  of  the  civil  law,  well  knowing, 
that  all  such  nullifying  doctrines  are  subversive  of  the 
good  order  of  civil  society,  as  well  as  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  the  mandates  of  the  gods,  who  preside  over  our 
civick  altars ;  so  that  some  of  them  have  commanded 
it  to  be  written,  in  letters  of  brass  over  the  altars  in 
all  our  civil  courts. 

^^Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the  power,  (that 
is  the  civil  law,)  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God ;" 
and  that  all  those,  that  do  so  resist  the  arm  of  the  civil 
law  of  any  land,  shall  receive  the  judgments  and  pen- 
alties which  are  annexed  to  the  violation  of  the  laws 
of  their  country. — But,  please  your  learned  honours,  the 
case  of  my  client  is  quite  otherwise,  he  has  been  merely 
placed  at  the  bar  of  this  court  by  proxy,  dressed  like  an 
effigy,  with  the  constuperating  garments  of  the  wildest 
crimes,  thrown  over  his  shoulders,  by  the  jealously  and 
malice  of  his  enemies  : — without  a  solitary  witness  to 
prove  a  single  fact  or  charge  against  him.  Therefore, 
the  forensick  vision  of  this  enlightened  court,  clearly 

h3 


90  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

sees  the  ground  on  which  I  stand  this  day,  for  the  first 
time,  in  all  my  practice  of  civil  law,  in  presenting  my- 
self at  its  bar,  as  the  avowed  advocate  for  a  notorious 
break-jail.  I  therefore  plead  his  cause,  because  I  be- 
lieve my  client  was  seized,  condemned,  crucified,  and 
his  dead  body  cast  into  the  nauseous  dungeon  of  death : 
being  at  the  time,  entirely  innocent  of  all  the  groundless 
charges  and  allegations  preferred  against  him.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of 
this  mysterious  and  singular  cause,  and  the  impartial 
jury  in  the  box,  both  the  sun  dial  and  my  promise  of 
brevity,  compel  me  to  close  my  plea  ; — but  permit  me 
to  iterate  again,  that  in  the  justification  of  my  client's 
conduct,  in  breaking  out  of  jail,  or,  if  the  court  think  I 
am  somewhat  irrelevant,  in  the  use  of  my  trope  or 
figurative  vocabular,  at  its  profound  bar,  I  say  then  in 
a  more  prose  or  simple  style,  that  my  client  finding  his 
way  out  of  the  sepulchre,  by  some  means  to  us  mun- 
dane beings  unknown: — Therefore,  please  your  hon- 
ours, the  judges  of  this  high  court  of  chancery,  with 
the  impartial  jury  of  Roman  citizens,  in  the  box,  I  shall 
no  longer  consume  the  precious  time  of  this  attentive 
court,  with  any  further  remarks,  on  the  nature  and 
character  of  this  young  and  ingenious  key  maker : — 
therefore,  it  only  remains  for  me  in  the  conscientious 
discharge  of  a  counsel's  professional  duty  towards  his 
client,  both  humbly  and  obsequiously  to  devoutly  pray, 
and  onerously  move  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  whole  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  over  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  my  client 
that  the  supposed  break-jail,  or  lost  body  of  the  afore- 
said Christ,  be,  by  the  wisdom  and  clemency  of  this 
court,  honourably  discharged  from  any  farther  durance 
or  vexatious  detention  before  the  bar  of  this  high  court 
of  law  and  inquest;  and  that  this  said  Christ,  my  client, 
be  from  this  day  forth,  to  the  end  of  this  mundane  dis- 
pensation— that  he  the  said  Christ,  please  this  court,  be 
held  entirely  free  from  all  kinds  of  reprehensions  and 
liabilities  whatsoever,  in  the  resurrection  story; 
whether,  please  your  honours,  the  report  of  Caiaphas 


CHRLST  REJECTED.  91 

the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Roman  watch  be 
true  or  false,  or  whether  he  effected  his  escape  or  went 
out  of  the  sepulchre  by  some  agency  beyond  the  con- 
trol of  mortals:  when  the  old  Roman  counsellor  sat 
down  and  said  no  more. 

A  small  note  to  the  reader,  hy  the  stenographer  of  this 
little  work. 

The  idea  which  onerously  beares  on  the  mind  of  the  writer, 
is  this,  that  if  Christ  did  indeed  rise  from  the  dead,  it  is  the 
sealing  act  of  the  whole  truth  of  the  bible,  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation;  and  forms  at  the  same  time,  the  colossean  pil- 
lar, on  the  which,  the  vast  and  stupendous  dome  of  the  whole 
truth  of  the  gospel,  of  the  Son  of  God  rests.  Christian  friends, 
what  a  most  extensive  conosure,  [that  is  a  feast,]  for  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  that  is,  for  that  part  of  mankind  who 
are  lovers  of  immortality  ; — but  what  a  re-action  it  will  bring 
on  Jews,  and  Deists,  on  Free-thinkers,  and  vain  Philosophers, 
by  raising  the  awful  fountains  of  the  wrath  of  God ;  and  at 
the  same  time,  forming  a  head,  in  the  sea  of  the  high  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Almighty  ;  from  which  a  tremendous  catar- 
act shall  rush  forth  and  sweep  their  risible,  and  scoffing 
souls  into  everlasting  ruin. 

The  writer  iterates  again,  it  will  make  warm  work  for  all  the 
ungodly  ships  and  squadrons,  on  board  of  which  Jews,  Deists, 
Atheists,  and  vain  Philosophers  sail.  But  if  Christ  was 
stolen  out  of  the  sepulchre,  the  afore-named  gentlemen,  of  the 
unbelieving  school,  may  strike  their  sensual  lyre,  with  the 
intonation  of  their  voice,  soaring  upward,  to  the  muse  of  the 
sleepy  goddess,  just  like  a  sky  lark  on  a  mid-summer  morn  : 
Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die. — A  word,  to  the 
wise  is  sufficient. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  old  lawyer 
sat  down,  the  Chief  judge  rose  and  informed  the  court, 
that  it  was  the  opinion  of  himself,  and  his  forensick 
coadjutors,  the  judges,  who  are  associated  with  him 
on  this  mysterious  trial,  that  the  humble  and  obsequious 
prayer  of  the  old  Roman  barrister,  in  the  behalf  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ,  should  be,  by  this  court,  most 
benignly  granted;   by   giving   the   crucified  body  of 


\flS  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Christ  a  final  discharge  from  all  cognizance,  and  a 
plenary  acquittal  from  all  court  charges,  and  from  all 
reprehension  and  further  liabilities  : — And  also,  from 
all  further  search  for  the  reported  dead  body  of  Christ, 
in  this  mundane  state  for  ever. 

The  above  opinion  of  the  judges  was  agreed  to  by 
the  jury,  without  leaving  the  box;  and  the  same  enter- 
ed on  the  records  of  the  court  of  Areopagus,  and  sign- 
ed by  order  of  the  court. 

His  learned  honours,  Doctors  Common  Sense,  Chief 
Judge  ;  Truth  and  Justice,  Clerks  of  this  high  court 
of  Chancery. — 1832. 

When  the  Chief  Judge  adjourned  this  court  to  meet  in  the 
same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


93 


CHAPTER  III. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
third  day  of  the  trial,  the  court  met  pursuant  to  ad- 
journment. The  doors  being  opened  at  an  early  hour, 
the  galleries  were  soon  filled  to  overflowing,  with  Jew- 
ish and  Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  of  high  blood 
and  patrician  birth;  and  after  these  the  aisles  and  areas 
of  the  court  were  filled  with  a  multifarious  throng  of 
plebeians  of  the  common  and  lower  orders  of  the  peo- 
ple. These  low  people  were,  many  of  them,  lovers  of 
immortality,  and  secret  friends  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
rising  from  the  dead. 

By  this  time,  the  Chief  with  his  four  associate  judges 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  with  its  drawn  sword  of  impartiality. 

2.  Truth  weighing  the  testimony  of  Caiaphas,  the  High  Priest  of  the  Jews, 
which  he  gives  in  at  the  bar  of  this  court. 

3.  The  philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

4.  Vain  Philosophy  gazing  at  the  stars. 

5.  The  five  judges  who  try  this  cause. 

6.  Caiaphas  giving  his  evidence  at  the  bar. 

7.  The  States-attorney  opening  the  prosecution  against  the  High  priest. 

8.  Caiaphas'  counsel  taking  his  notes. 

9.  The  marshal  and  sheriff  leaving  the  court. 

10.  The  twelve  jurymen. 


94  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

had  arrived,  and  also  all  the  other  learned  gentlemen 
of  the  bar,  who  constituted  the  forensick  elements  of 
this  high  court  of  chancery. — As  soon  as  the  officers  of 
the  court  were  all  at  their  proper  locations,  the  mar- 
shal of  the  empire  and  the  sheriff  of  Rome,  brought  in 
his  holiness,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  placed 
him  at  the  bar  of  this  court.  And  as  soon  as  all  the 
forensick  etiquette  and  customary  formalities  of  this 
court  were  accomplished,  the  king's  attorney  rose,  and 
with  his  usual  share  of  legal  etiquette,  informed  Caia- 
phas,  that  he  had  been  inducted  by  the  high  officers  of 
the  crown,  under  the  sanction  of  the  righteous  arm  of 
the  civil  and  martial  laws  of  the  realm,  to  the  bar  of 
this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  on  a  charge  of  the 
most  notorious  delinquency  of  his  professional  duty,  in 
the  late  distressing  and  gloomy  catastrophe,  w^hich  had 
so  most  shamefully  overcast  the  antecedent  glory  of  the 
royal  bastile  of  sin  and  death,  in  your  suffering  the 
escape  of  that  noted  prisoner,  called  Christ.  And  in 
consequence  of  that  serious  loss,  it  becomes  my  duty, 
as  the  official  organ  of  the  law  of  the  realm,  to  inform 
your  grace,  that  by  this  unprecedented  default  in  your 
ecclesiastical  duty,  you  have  placed  yourself  at  the  bar 
of  this  profound  tribunal,'  as  being  one  of  the  unhappy 
agents  of  tarnishing  the  penal  glory  of  all  the  strong 
holds  in  our  legitimate  sovereign's  empire;  and  also, 
greatly  undulating  the  calm  sea  of  Reason  and  Philoso- 
phy. 

The  States-general  having  made  those  few  prefatory 
remarks,  to  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  he  as  counsel  for  the  crow^n,  desired  the  high 
priest  to  rise  and  present  himself  at  the  clerk's  table, 
in  order  to  be  solemnly  affirmed  in  these  w^ords:  "That 
the  testimony  which  this  high  court  of  impartial  law 
and  inquest,  shall  call  on  you  to  give  in  at  the  righteous 
bar,  whether,  please  your  grace,  it  shall  be  of  a  colla- 
teral, circumstantial,  presumptive,  or  a  positive  nature, 
shall  be  the  truth,  the  w^hole  truth  and  nothing  but  the 
truth,  in  the  sight  of  the  civic  gods,  who  preside  over 
the  altars  of  truth  and  justice ;  and  also  in  the  sight  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  ^ 

that  God,  the  signs  of  whose  holiness  your  pontifical 
robes  and  sacred  office,  this  day,  do  so  solemnly  pre- 
sent before  the  bar  of  this  court." 

Caiaphas  rose  and  went  to  the  clerk's  table,  and 
was  there  legally  affirmed  ;  when  the  high  priest  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  bar  of  the  court,  and  said,  May 
it  please  your  honours  the  judges  with  the  jury,  all  that 
has  come  officially  to  my  knowledge,  in  this  very  un- 
felicitous  occurrence,  which  has  spread  a  dispensation 
of  fogs,  clouds  and  even  cymmerian  darkness  over  the 
strong  holds  of  the  king  of  terrors,  is  this— to  wit;  that 
after  this  subdolous  affair  took  place,  that  part  of  the 
watch  which  was  composed  of  the  soldiers  of  the  royal 
army  of  Rome,  came  into  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  inquir- 
ing for  my  palace  ;  when  some  of  my  pious  friends,  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  conducted  them  to  my  residence. 
And  as  I  observed,  please  the  court,  an  unusual  pale- 
ness in  the  countenances  of  the  men,  I  desired  one  of 
my  household  servants  to  lead  the  guards  into  my  pri- 
vate drawing  room — when  I  desired  my  private  secre- 
tary to  go  in  and  inquire  into  the  nature  of  their 
business  :  who  returned  in  a  few  minutes,  and  informed 
me,  that  these  soldiers  had  a  secret  errand  to  commu- 
nicate to  me  : — when  I  left  the  secretary,  and  went  in 
unto  them.  The  ffi^st  thing  I  was  able  to  discover  in 
the  men,  was  that  their  minds  had  been  under  a  most 
powerful  influence  of  fear — the  cause  to  me  being  as 
yet  unknown.  1  saw  that  they  wished  to  communicate 
something  of  an  unfortunate  nature  to  me  ;  but  their 
organs  of  utterance  appeared,  for  the  time  being,  to  be 
so  powerfully  embargoed,  that  they  could  not  articulate 
a  single  word. 

Seeing,  please  the  court,  their  embarrassed  condition, 
I  desired  them  to  sit  still  for  a  few  moments,  and  com- 
pose their  minds,  and  I  would  retire  and  return  again. 
So  in  less  than  half  an  hour  I  re-entered  the  drawing- 
room,  when  all  their  countenances  seemed  in  some  de- 
gree composed.  I  sat  myself  down  in  my  old  theologi- 
cal chair,  when  the  captain  of  the  watch  rose  and  re- 
ported to  me,  "that  as  all  the  guards  were  standing  and 


96  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

walking  round  the  sepulchre,  the  air  being  serene,  and 
the  stars  scintillating  with  unusual  brilliancy,  in  a  few 
moments  the  whole  garden  was  involved  in  a  dense 
cloud  of  primeval  darkness,  followed  by  an  awful  con- 
cussion of  the  ground,  and  a  precursory  sound  in  the 
surrounding  elements  where  we  stood  ;  when  a  most 
powerful  and  constuperating  influence,  of  a  deadly 
nature,  came  upon  us,  and  threw  us  all  into  a  deep 
sleep,  in  which  all  our  senses  were  taken  from  us — so 
that  for  the  time  being,  or  while  this  opiate  cloud  and 
mysterious  dispensation  of  darkness  remained  over  the 
garden  and  sepulchre,  our  senses  were  all  so  onerously 
embargoed,  by  some  power  and  influence,  to  us  un- 
known, that  we  neither  saw,  heard,  or  felt  any  per- 
son or  thing,  of  what  transpired,  either  in  the  garden, 
or  at  the  sepulchre :  and  that  it  was  during  this  strange 
and  singular  interregnum,  of  all  our  physical,  mental 
and  moral  powers,  that  the  eleven  disciples  came,  while 
this  darkness  remained,  and  stole  the  crucified  body 
of  their  master,  who  they  call  Christ,  and  went  oflf  with 
him,  we  know  not  where."  When,  I  observed,  they 
were  not  responsible  for  things  beyond  their  natural 
controul.  When  the  captain  of  the  watch  replied — 
"true,  please  your  grace,  nevertheless,  your  holiness  can- 
not be  insensible  of  the  awful  responsibility  this  mys- 
terious catastrophe  lays  the  v/hole  of  the  watch  under, 
to  the  strict  martial  discipline  of  the  Roman  army  ;  and 
we  humbly  pray  your  holiness,  to  intercede  for  us  with 
the  governor,  that  our  punishment  may  in  some  way 
be  commuted,  or  else  we  are  sensible,  death  will 
be  our  doom." 

And  please  the  court,  the  simplicity  and  apparent 
honesty  of  these  unlettered  soldiers,  led  me  to  take  a 
special  interest  in  their  behalf;  when  I  gave  the  cap- 
tain of  the  watch  to  understand,  that  I  stood  on  the 
most  amiable  ground  with  Pontius  Pilate,  and  that  I 
should  use  all  my  influence  with  the  governor,  not  only 
that  their  punishment  should  be  barely  commuted,  but 
I  should  try  to  get  his  Roman  honour  to  pass  the  whole 
matter  over,  by  observing  a  profound  silence  in  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  97 

case  altogether ;  as  I  shall  present  to  his  enlightened 
and  reflecting  mind,  sufficient  motives ;  so  that  you  all 
may  return  to  your  military  station,  without  the  least 
fear  of  being  called  up  to  the  bar  of  a  court  martial,  on 
account  of  the  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out 
of  the  sepulchre. 

The  guards  then  rose,  and  obsequiously  tendered  to 
me  their  most  lively  sense  of  military  gratitude,  for  the 
interest  I  took  in  their  deliverance  from  future  punish- 
ment ;  when  I  accompanied  them  to  my  palace  door, 
and  slipped  into  the  hand  of  the  captain  of  the  watch  a 
piece  of  money,  that  he  and  his  comrades  might  com- 
fort their  hearts  together,  after  the  fear  and  distress  that 
had  come  upon  them  in  the  garden,  and  also  to  relieve 
them  from  all  foreboding  fears  of  future  punishment. 
When,  please  this  court,  the  fellows  left  my  palace, 
with  countenances  expressive  of  joy.  This,  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the  impartial 
jury  of  this  court,  is  all  that  came  officially  to  my 
knowledge,  of  the  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre.  When  the  Chief  Judge  desired 
Caiaphas  to  sit  down. 


The  crown  barrister^  or  States-attorney^ s  plea,  against 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  in  the  days  of 
Tiberius  Ceasar,  and  also  in  the  days  of  Pontius  Pilate* 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Caiaphas,  the  pris- 
oner in  durance,  at  the  bar  of  this  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, had  taken  his  seat,  that  the  learned  counsel  on 
the  behalf  of  the  crown,  rose  and  presented  himself  at 
the  bar,  with  a  few  notes  in  his  hand,  as  a  kind  of  pri- 
vate prompter  to  assist  his  memory : — so  when  the 
States-attorney  had,  by  the  legal  apparatus  of  his  law 
profession,  charged  his  mind,  like  a  dense  thunder  cloud 
labouring  in  great  distress,  and  directing  its  course  to- 
w^ards  some  dry  and  thirsty  land,  in  order  to  ease  itself 
of  its  burden,  the  crown  lawyer  opened  the  upper 
flood-gates  of  his  law-knowledge,  so  as  to  fill  all  the 
legal  fountains  in  the  precints  of  his  gigantic  mind ; 


98  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

when  the  immediate  effect  that  it  produced  was,  that 
it  soon  put  all  the  complicated  wheels  and  other  delicate 
parts  of  his  law  machinery  into  full  locomotion.  He 
then  gave  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  a  plenary 
view  of  his  legal  eloquence,  guided  by  the  most  masterly 
display  of  the  ingenuity  of  his  highly  cultivated  mind, 
as  he  stood  at  the  bar,  opening  all  the  shades  of  Caia- 
phas'  presumed  guilt,  and  all  the  bearings  of  the  law  on 
his  case,  by  oftentimes  increasing  the  intonation  of  his 
voice,  as  we  have  once  said ;  and  the  reader  will  pass  by 
all  his  trite  acumen  and  legal  remarks,  at  the  bar  of  this 
court;  when  the  crown  barrister  went  on,  filling  the 
court  with  the  scintillating  fire  of  his  law  oratory,  and 
leaving  all  the  technical  words,  so  much  in  use  in  civil 
courts,  suffer  the  relevancy  of  my  figure,  when  he,  just 
like  the  sky-lark  leaving  its  nest,  located  in  some  hil- 
lock of  grass  in  a  lonely  meadow,  on  the  dawn  of  a 
bright  mid-summer  morn — so  that  like  the  natural 
figure  alluded  to,  he  would  almost  rise  perpendicularly 
towards  the  altar  of  the  oratorical  muse,  from  whence 
he  would  again  refresh  his  mind,  and  richly  embellish  his 
tongue  with  more  of  his  persuasive,  his  harmonious 
oratory,  and  graceful  eloquence  ;  which  being  attract- 
ed by  the  lightning-rod  of  the  law  of  the  realm,  down 
which  the  States-attorney,  with  his  legal  skill,  endea- 
voured to  convey  all  the  vituperating  electrical  fluid, 
from  all  the  collateral  and  circumstantial  clouds,  which 
the  crown  lawyer's  eagle-eye  saw  so  closely  connected 
with  the  delinquency  of  Caiaphas,  in  the  loss  or  escape 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
And  with  many  other  words  and  eloquent  signs  of  ideas, 
did  the  crown  attorney  solemnly  testify  to  this  high 
court  of  chancery,  at  times,  in  almost  supra-mundane 
language — which  seemed  rather  to  baffle  the  scribbling 
dexterity  of  the  stenographer  to  note  down  in  legible 
characters. 

In  order  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  court,  that  some 
of  the  deepest  shades  of  suspicion,  onerously  con- 
verged their  sable  hues  on  the  reprehensible  head  of 
Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  in  the  obvious 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  99 

delinquency  of  his  moral  and  professional  duty,  in  not 
preventing  the  escape  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre — seeing  that  all  the  riches  of  him- 
self and  nation,  could  not  countervail  the  king's  dama- 
ges. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  his  learned  honour,  on 
the  side  of  the  crown,  had  emptied  his  labouring  cloud, 
which  in  the  sequel — it  did  only  appear,  that  all  his 
fine  eloquence  and  declamatory  oratory,  had  only  been 
generated  by  the  dry  congress  of  his  wind  organs, 
which  he  had  merely  drawn  by  his  postulatory  air- 
pumpy  from  the  windy  clouds  of  empty  suspicion;  so 
that  the  States-attorney's  fine  words  made  but  a  mere 
transient  impression  on  the  mind  of  this  intelligent  and 
enlightened  court,  which  very  soon  evaporated,  when 
the  rays  of  light  from  the  sun  of  common-sense  darted 
through  the  court :  and  soon  converged  its  luminous 
coruscation,  on  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  all  the 
law  elements  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  States-general 
had  gone  through  with  all  the  impugning  arguments  he 
seemed  to  be  master  of,  in  his  plea  against  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  his  learned  honour,  the 
counsel  for  the  crown,  most  onerously  moved  the  judges 
with  the  whole  court,  that  he  viewed  it  to  be  the  court's 
duty,  through  the  eye  of  the  law  of  his  sovereign  and 
the  realm,  to  find  a  heavy  bill  of  censure,  and  also  to 
immerse  Caiaphas  the  high  Priest  of  the  Jews,  in  a  bill 
of  heavy  penalties,  for  the  loss  or  escape  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre: — when  the  States- 
general  sat  down. 

And  the  Chief  Judge  rose  and  signified,  that  the  hour 
to  adjourn  had  arrived:  so  the  court  stood  adjourned  to 
meet  the  next  day. 


100 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus 
met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  fourth  day  of  this  very  important  trial.  And  after 
the  usual  legal  comity  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, were  gone  through,  the  counsellor  employed  by 
Caiaphas  to  defend  his  cause,  rose  and  thus  addressed 
the  judges  and  jury,  with  that  boldness  of  legal  style, 
for  which  the  ancient  civilians  of  Roman  law  were 
highly  distinguished  throughout  the  world,  and  said: — 
May  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the 
gentlemen  that  this  day  constitute  the  legal  authorities 
of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre — my  con- 
science, may  it  please  the  court  to  indulge  me  with  the 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  with  its  draAvn  sword  of  Impartiality. 

2.  Truth  weighing  all  the  testimony  that  may  be  given  during  this  trial. 

3.  The  philosophy  of  thelmman  mind,  pointing  the  finder  of  scorn  at  tiie 
cross  of  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  The  five  Judges  who  try  this  cause. 

5.  Vain  Priiloso|)hy,  gazing  at  the  new  heavens  in  the  age  of  Reason. 

6.  The  counsellor  who  pleads  and  advocates  the  cause  of  Caiaphas. 

7.  Caiaphas  in  the  criminal's  box. 

8.  The  twelve  jurymen  pannelled,  and  in  the  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  101 

free  use  of  the  name  of  this  uncourtly  stranger,  although 
such  a  singular,  moral  phenomena  may  appear  somewhat 
strange  for  a  Roman  civilian  to  bring  with  him  into 
court — I  am,  please  your  honours,  constrained  to  admit 
the  relevancy  of  your  partial  surprise  to  be  correct,  and 
oftentimes  lamentably  too  true,  as  it  respects  many  of 
our  lower  courts  of  civil  law  ;  yet,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  high  court  of  chan- 
cery, from  the  high  fame  which  I  have  heard  from  my 
youth  up  to  this  day,  of  the  impartial  justice  that  has 
been  antecedently  administered  from  this  bar,  to  all 
men,  whether  rich  or  poor,  wise  or  simple — which 
leads  me  to  draw  these  reflections  of  the  high  character 
of  this  court  this  morning:  so  that  it  involuntarily 
leads  me  to  take  the  liberty  to  ask  Doctor  Conscience, 
to  take  a  seat  by  my  side,  before  the  bar  of  this  court, 
in  order  to  correct  the  manifold  errata  of  my  judgment, 
and  regulate  the  rapsodious  pendulation,  of  my  declama- 
tory tongue,  which  experience  teaches  me,  is  very 
often  set  in  motion  by  the  apposite  air-pump  of  court 
vocabulary — emptying  the  mind  of  sound  and  rational 
argument,  and  the  dictates  of  common  sense.  These 
are  the  philanthropic  view^s,  which  the  high  character 
of  this  court  justifies  me  to  take  of  its  legal  rectitude — 
the  court  will  indulge  me  with  the  doctor's  company. 
Nevertheless,  may  it  please  your  honours,  sensible  as  I 
am  that  you  are  all  gentlemen  of  like  passions  with'my- 
self,  therefore,  allow  me  to  observe,  that  while  your 
honours  are  pursuing  the  profession  of  law^  you  may  be 
led,  at  the  first  sight  of  this  uncourtly  stranger,  as  pre- 
senting a  coindication  of  his  illegability  to  appear  at 
our  bar :  so  that  at  times,  it  may  seem  to  elicit  both 
the  surprise  and  risibility  of  your  minds  to  a  greater 
altitude  of  wonder,  than  even  the  dogmatical  negation 
of  the  wise  Solomon  :  "  that  there  is  nothing  new^  under 
the  sun."  But,  please  your  learned  honours,  waving 
all  further  apology  for  thus  unceremoniously  introduc- 
ing the  appellative  of  conscience,  as  my  guide  at  the  bar 
of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest  this  morning. 

I  shall  now,  please  your  honours,  the  judges  and  the 
i2 


103 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


gentlemen  of  the  jury,  just  observe,  that  my  conscience, 
guided  by  i\\Q  safety-valve  of  justice,  under  the  helm  of 
the  law,  and  the  compass  of  truth,  directing  me  to  the 
polar  star  of  impartiality ;  and  with  the  chart  of  my 
professional  duty  to  my  theological  client,  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  laying  before  me ; — and 
may  it  please  this  court,  it  gives  me  the  most  ample 
satisfaction  to  reflect,  that  my  conscience  for  once,  is 
in  the  most  felicitous  unison  with  all  the  antecedent 
elements  of  truth,  justice  and  equity,  for  which  this 
court  has  spread  its  eclat  before  the  whole  world,  viz : 
antecedently  to  this  mysterious  trial.  These  things 
being  thus  premised,  I  am  prepared  to  say  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  (and  suffer  me  to  extend  my  boldness  to 
the  whale  world  of  mankind,)  that  I  widely  differ  from 
the  learned  counsel  on  the  side  of  the  crown.  And  in 
order  to  convince  this  court,  that  the  ground  I  have 
taken  is  firm  and  tenable,  I  shall  p^ay  the  court  to 
charitably  extend  a  few  degrees  of  the  longitude  of  its 
patience  towards  me,  as  counsel  for  the  defendant. 
And  although  I  bow  with  the  most  profound  reverence 
at  the  civic  altars  of  my  country,  and  also  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  august  court,  and  at  ihe  same  time,  I  trust, 
my  mind  is  deeply  imbued  with  a  conscientious  respect 
for  all  your  learned  honours,  that  from  my  youth  up,  I 
have  been  habitually  led  to  highly  respect.  Neverthe- 
less, I  experience  the  most  plenary  affiance  in  my  mind, 
as  a  civilian  of  Roman  laAv,  and  as  a  professional  per- 
son at  the  bar  of  this  court,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  con- 
secutively place  before  your  honours  the  judges,  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  such  a  sweeping  flood  of  the 
most  indubitable  testimony,  and  such  a  ponderous 
weight  of  the  most  irrefragable  argument  of  the  entire 
innocency  of  my  client's  conduct  and  character,  in  what 
relates  to  the  most  faithful  and  conscientious  discharge 
of  his  duty,  in  order  to  safely  secure  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  in  the  sepulchre  for  ever,  which,  I  humbly 
trust,  shall  fully  satisfy  the  most  sceptical  of  the  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies  in  the  galleries,  and  this  court. 
Therefore,  this  court  will  be  so  kind  as  to  remember. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  103 

that  the  first  member  or  head  of  my  legal  text,  is  as 
follows :  to  wit :  The  circumstances  of  the  high  priest 
Caiaphas,  at  the  time  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre. 
Therefore,  please  this  court,  1  have  laid  myself  under 
an  imperious  obligation  to  prove  to  this  court,  that  the 
conduct  and  character  of  my  client  shall  stand  in  the 
view  of  all  men,  on  a  colossus  of  theological  rectitude; 
that  is,  please  your  honours,  as  it  respects  any  remiss- 
ness on  the  part  of  Caiaphas;  or,  if  your  honours  please, 
I  shall  make  it  appear,  that  there  were  not  the  least 
coindication  of  delinquency  in  any  of  his  official  acts  or 
duties,  in  the  which  my  client  did  not  pay  the  most 
prompt  attention,  and  fully  identified  himself  with  Pilate, 
in  all  the  lawful  means  within  the  wide  range  of  his 
physical,  mental,  civil,  ecclesiastical  arid  moral  capa- 
bilities— ^during,  please  your  honours,  the  time  that 
that  subdolous  cataract  rushed  down  on  the  old  bastile 
of  death,  and  swept  away  all  the  trophies  of  its  long 
antecedent  glory. 

And,  please  your  honours,  I  am  constrained  to  admit, 
that  if  the  report  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  is  in- 
deed true,  it  certainly  was  one  of  the  most  villainous 
and  sacrilegious  robberies,  that  ever  was  to  this  day, 
presented  to  the  view  of  mankind ;  and  I  experience  a 
full  assurance  in  my  mind,  that  the  legal  sense  of  this 
court,  will  glide  down  with  me  on  the  perennial  current 
of  common  sense  ;  so  that  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  court  of 
law  and  inquest  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  say  in  a  legal 
soliloquy,  in  your  honours'  minds — it  certainly  was 
one  of  the  most  inauspicious  circumstances,  that  to  this 
day  has  ever  undulated  the  audibility  of  the  childi-en 
of  men;  and  at  the  same  time,  disturbed  the  calm 
sea  of  the  placid  minds  of  the  princes  and  kings  of  the 
earth.  That  is,  please  your  honours,  in  case  the  sand 
bank,  which  I  have  rather  ironically  rested  my  postu- 
latory  feet  upon  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  be  true — 
to  wit :  That  this  said  Christ  is,  at  this  very  moment, 
enjoying  a  perfect  state  of  convalescence ;  jjidding  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind  the  most  plenary  de- 


104  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

fiance.  There  is,  please  your  honours,  such  a  vague  re- 
port now  flying  through  the  Roman  empire,  that  it  is  so. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  impartial  jury,  in  order  that  I  may 
place  my  legal  remarks  before  the  bar  of  the  court, 
with  as  much  congruity  as  possible,  at  the  same  time 
associated  with  a  few  rays  of  perspicuity,  at  least  as 
much  so  as  my  limited  talents  are  capable  of — which 
I  intend  presenting  in  a  kind  of  law  prospectus,  before 
the  legal  vision  of  your  honours. 

r  shall,  therefore,  please  the  court,  first  take  up  a 
circumstantial  view  of  the  defendant's  condition,  as  a 
coindication  of  his  innocency;  secondly,  I  shall  take  an 
excursive  survey  of  the  presumptive  signs  of  the  inno- 
cency of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar;  and,  thirdly,  and 
lastly,  lay  hold  of  all  the  words  and  acts  of  the  defen- 
dant, that  legally  came  under  the  character  of  positive 
evidence,  with  all  the  discursive  strength  that  my 
forensick  mind  and  argumentive  tongue,  has  the  free 
command  of:  Therefore,  please  the  court,  the  first  point 
of  investigation  in  my  promised  arrangement,  is  the 
notorious  circumstances,  associated  with  the  office  and 
functions  held  by  Caiaphas,  which  placed  him  before 
his  own  nation,  [and  also  before  a  vast  number  of  the 
free  citizens  of  the  greatest  monarchy  that  has  ever 
existed,  or  been  known  among  men,]  in  the  most  con- 
spicuous point  of  view. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
does  this  court  of  law  and  inquest  demand  of  me,  as 
counsel  for  the  defendant,  to  state  categorically  to  the 
court,  what  those  circumstances  were?  And  no  doubt, 
his  learned  honour  the  States-attorney,  is  almost  ready 
to  exclaim.  What  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  and 
of  our  new  gods  of  Reason  and  Philosophy,  were  those 
marvellous  circumstances,  that  you  so  forensickly  vein 
about  at  the  bar  of  this  enlightened  and  intelligent 
court?  I  can  inform  his  learned  honour,  after  I  shall 
with  my  handkerchief,  made  of  the  fine  linen  of  Egypt, 
spunged  the  flowing  tears  from  my  veining  eyes,  when 
I  shall  the  more  cheerfully  indulge  his  honour,  and  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  105 

whole  court,  with  some  few  of  the  marvellous  circum- 
stances of  my  client,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jew's  case, 
at  the  time  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre. 

In  the  first  place,  his  learned  honour  will  notice  with 
the  court,  Caiaphas  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  was,  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  impartial 
jury,  the  only  chief  pontiff  of  a  national  church,  which 
at  that  period  of  time  did  sustain  the  greatest  altitude 
of  religious  fame  and  notoriety  in  the  whole  world — and 
I  pray  the  court  to  indulge  me  to  add  to  this  \iew  of 
the  theological  elevation  of  his  sacerdotal  character,  the 
outward  and  imposing  grandeur  of  his  temple,  in  the 
city  of  Jerusalem.  On  the  golden  altars  of  the  same, 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  annually  offered  up  his  thous- 
ands of  holocust  or  burnt  offerings.  And  in  addition 
to  this,  the  scintillating  glory  of  his  holy  pontifical 
robes  ;  especially  on  the  days  of  expiation,  when  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  was  fully  attired  in  all  his  sacerdotal  garments, 
which  please  your  honours  and  the  jury,  when  fully 
exposed  to  the  coruscations  of  light  from  the  sun  of  our 
solar  system,  created  a  transient  halo  of  glory  round 
his  person,  which  imbued  the  mind  of  the  beholder 
with  a  sacred  veneration,  both  for  his  person  and  char- 
acter. 

And  in  order  to  convince  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  the  portrait 
I  have  given  the  court  of  the  imposing  grandeur  of  his 
temple,  and  the  glory  of  his  person,  with  the  whole 
circle  of  felicitous  circumstances  that  daily  more  or 
less  surround  the  prisoner  at  the  bar: — and  in  order  to 
corroborate  the  view  I  have  given  this  court,  in  my  re- 
marks of  Caiaphas'  priestly  glory,  1  have  only  to  refer 
your  learned  honours  to  your  extensive  reading ;  for  I 
experience  the  most  ample  confidence  in  my  mind,  that 
all  the  learned  elements  which  this  day  constitutes  the 
legal  functionaries  of  this  court,  have  become  well 
acquainted,  by  reading  our  ancient  writers — who, 
please  the  court,  inform  us,  that  this  was  literally  the 
case :  as  when  the  Grecian  hero  and  prostrate^  of  a 


106  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

number  of  the  barbarous  and  civilized  nations  of  the 
earth,  set  out  to  destroy  Jerusalem,  he  was  met  by  one 
of  the  holy  brethren  of  Caiaphas.  And  as  the  conquer- 
ing prince  approached  the  holy  city,  with  his  maraud- 
ing mind  overflowing  the  purlieus  of  all  the  tender- 
lines  of  humanity ;  and  when  like  a  rushing  cataract 
the  furious  and  pugnacious  elements  of  the  heart  of  an 
insulted  conqueror,  with,  please  your  learned  honours,  a 
full  determination  to  destroy  both  the  temple  and  city 
of  Jerusalem ;  but,  being  met  on  the  road  by  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  richly  caparisoned  in  his  pontifical 
robes,  coming  in  contact  with  the  rays  of  the  sun,  the 
scintillating  and  dazzling  glory  thereof  had  such  a  mar- 
vellous and  powerful  effect  on  his  mind,  for  the  time 
being,  that  it  turned  the  raging  sea  of  his  passions  into 
the  philanthropic  elements  of  a  fostering  guardian  to 
the  temple  and  city  of  the  Jews. 

In  justification  of  the  foreojoing  reference,  of  the  im- 
posing glory  of  the  person  of  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  permit  me  to  tax  your  learned 
honour's  patience,  with  one  more  collateral  circum- 
stance, from  our  story  writers,  of  the  outward  glory  of 
Caiaphas'  condition.  I  refer  the  court  to  the  illustri- 
ous and  humane  conduct  of  one  of  the  best  of  the  Roman 
generals,  by  the  weil  known  name  of  Titus.  This  con- 
quering hero,  about  six  or  seven  and  thirty  years  sub- 
sequent to  the  elopement  or  stealing  of  the  crucified 
^ody  of  Christ,  as  it  is  reported,  out  of  the  sepulchre, 
our  historians  inform  us,  that  as  Titus  stood  on  the 
battle  ground,  in  the  midst  of  his  martial  legions,  view- 
ing the  deleterious  effects  which  the  sanguinary  rava- 
ges of  a  desolating  war  had  brought  on  the  Jewish 
nation,  with  the  entire  destruction  of  their  city  and 
temple,  that  his  philanthropic  sensibilities  were  raised 
by  the  mournful  steam  of  human  woe,  to  the  highest 
degree.  Viewing  so  much  art,  science  and  riches,  all 
amalgamating  together  in  one  flaming  cataract,  and 
sweeping  city  and  temple  away,  by  one  of  the  most 
awful  conflagrations,  to  be  seen  no  more  as  a  people, 
city  and  temple,  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ; — that 


CHRIST  REJECTfiD.  lOT 

is,  the  national  visibility  of  my  client's  church,  temple 
and  pontifical  gloiy,  were  all  swept  from  the  earth  in 
a  few  hours,  by  this  smoky  and  flaming  cataract ; 
which  caused  Titus  to  undulate  the  battle  ground,  with 
the  distress  and  deep  affliction  of  his  noble  and  philan- 
thropic soul. 

These  things,  please  your  honours,  I  mention  from 
among  a  number  of  others  that  I  could  bring  forth, 
were  it  not  superfluous  for  me  to  consume  the  time  of 
this  court  and  the  patience  of  your  honours  the  judges, 
with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  in  a  long  detail  of  the 
most  obvious  collateral  circumstances  of  the  same 
character ;  which  would  all  go  to  prove  what  were  the 
existing  circumstances  of  Caiaphas  my  client,  at  the 
time  this  subdolous  catastrophe  took  place ;  that  is, 
please  this  court,  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  was,  by 
his  ecclesiastical  offices  and  functions,  at  the  time  of 
the  stealing  the  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  the  theological  glory  of  the  Jew's 
church — shining  forth  in  his  meridian  splendor;  and 
round  whose  pontifical  honour,  as  a  sun  in  the  midst 
of  his  theological  firmament,  giving  light  and  vitality 
to  all  the  religious  satellites,  that  daily  more  or  less  re- 
volve round  him  ;  and  was  fully  identified  in  all  her  re- 
ligious opperations. 

And  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  jury  of  this  court,  I  place  these  things 
before  your  view,  as  a  mere  miniature  portrait  of  the 
circumstances  my  client  was  placed  in,  when  our  lord 
the  king  had  his  old  bastile  of  death  invaded  by  some 
irreptitious  foe;  who  surreptitiously  obtained  out  of 
the  king's  custom-house,  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 
And  whoever  the  obreptitious  and  subdolous  villain  or 
villains  were,  it  appears,  please  your  honours,  hard  to 
find  out  or  who  has  taken  this  same  mysterious  being 
to  some  unknown  w^orld,  so  that  the  marshal  and 
sheriflf  of  our  sovereign's  kingdom  have  reported  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  on  the  first  day  of  the  trial,  that  the 
body  of  Christ  is  not  to  be  found  in  this  earthly  dispen- 
sation. 


lOS  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

And  now,  I  humbly  pray  this  court,  to  indulge  me 
with  this  conclusion,  in  favour  of  my  client,  which  is 
this,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  jury,  only  let  the  legal  wisdom  and 
knowledge,  which  I  am  fully  persuaded  this  wise  and 
enlightened  court  is  in  the  full  possession  of,  be  applied 
to  his  case,  as  it  regards  men  and  things;  and  then  you 
will  grant,  that  if  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  the  high  priest 
of  the  Jews,  had  only  been  blessed  with  a  sane  state  of 
mind,  and  a  rational  capacity,  that  did  not  even  pass 
the  line  of  mediocrity  of  the  multifarious  throng ;  or, 
if  your  honours  the  judges  please,  and  think  a  softer 
phrase  would  become  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  I  say  the  generality  of  mankind  ;  and  then 
the  simple  inference  or  common-sense  conclusion,  which 
I  shall  draw  from  the  foregoing  premises,  is  this :  that 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  who  was  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  at  the  time  of  the  sad  loss  of  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  was  a  person  who  had 
only  reached  the  acme  of  bare  common  sense.  Then, 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  Caiaphas,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  must  have  been  fully  awake  to 
his  own  interest,  and  saw  that  it  lay  so  deeply  imbeded 
and  strongly  identified  in  all  the  collateral  circumstan- 
ces of  his  high  and  ecclesiastical  dignity,  in  which  he 
was  placed  both  before  his  own  people  the  Jews,  and 
thousands  of  wise  and  shrewd  Greeks  and  Romans. 

These  few  very  imperfect  remarks,  please  your  hon- 
ours, when  I  consider  the  magnitude  of  the  cause  I  am 
endeavouring  to  vindicate  before  this  enlightened  bar, 
I  shall  leave  with  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and  all  the  legal  gentlemen 
who  this  day  constitute  the  forensick  elements  of  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  high  court  of  chancery, 
merely  as  a  solution  of  the  first  head  of  my  legal  text, 
to  wit :  the  circumstantial  evidence,  that  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar  must  naturally  have  been  led  to  have  done 
his  share  of  holy  duty,  to  secure  and  keep  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  in  safe  durance  in  the  grave  or  sepuK 
chre  forever. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  109 

Thus  the  court  sees,  how  widely  I  am  led  to  differ 
from  the  attorney  general,  on  the  side  of  the  crown, 
respecting  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  His 
learned  honour  was  led  to  predicate  my  client's  guilt, 
by  some  trite  remarks  and  mere  postulatory  assertions, 
based  entirely  on  an  arena  of  sand,  which  is  continually 
shifting  its  position  in  the  foul  waters,  in  the  river  of 
presumption;  so  that,  please  this  court  of  impartial  law 
and  inquest,  you  see  that  his  learned  honour  the  crown 
barrister,  was  not  able  fo  prove  by  sound  argument,  a 
single  allegation  which  he  placed  at  the  bar  of  this 
court  against  my  client.  For  he  had  not  a  single  irre- 
fragable testimony  to  present  against  my  client,  so  as 
to  convince  the  court  of  the  least  shade  of  delinquency, 
in  the  full  discharge  of  all  the  duties  that  devolved  on 
the  office  and  character  of  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
in  his  not  taking  sufficient  care  to  prevent  the  escape 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
When,  please  this  court,  the  States-general's  keen  for- 
ensick  vision  came  down,  vulture-like,  on  some  dark 
spots,  while  at  the  same  time  his  strong  alfactory  sense 
passed  by  all  the  roses  and  ichite  lilies  that  lay  within 
the  purlieu  of  all  the  assiduous  faithfulness  of  the  high 
priest's  words  and  acts,  to  well  secure  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  in  the  sepulchre. 

But  I  shall  say  no  more  on  this  head  of  my  legal 
text;  when  the  learned  counsellor  sat  down;  and  the 
judge  pointed  to  the  dial  of  the  court,  which  signified 
that  the  hour  of  adjournment  had  arrived :  so  the  court 
adjourned  to  meet  in  this  place  the  next  day.   . 


110 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  lear7ied  Counsellor,  for  Caiaphas  the  high  pi'iest  of  the 
Jews,  renetDs  and  continues  his  plea  from  yesterday,  at 
the  bar  of  the  high  court  of  Chancery, 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  high  famed  court  of 
impartial  law  and  inquest,  met  pursuant  to  adjourn- 
ment, on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day.  And  as  soon  as 
all  the  preliminary  etiquette  of  the  court  were  gone 
through  with,  the  learned  counsellor  for  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  rose  and  addressed  the  whole  court,  by  pre- 
senting to  it  his  high  consideration,  for  the  singular 
and  special  attention  it  had  paid  to  his  arguments  on 


Figure  1.  Justice  Mith  a  drawn  sword  of  Impartiality. 

2.  Truth  weighing  the  evidence,  that  has  or  shall  be  given  to  the  oom-t 
on  this  trial, 

3.  Miss  Philosophy  viewing  the  heavens— and  is  overjoyed  at  the  discovery 
of  a  system  of  worlds ;  m- hen  her  enlightened  mind  draws  this  conclusion, 
that  Moses  and  Christ  were  both  ignoramuses  in  these  things. 

4.  Carnal  Reason  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ. 

5.  The  five  Judges  who  tiy  this  cause. 

6.  The  States-general  taking  his  notes. 

7.  The  high  priest  Caiaphas  in  the  criminal's  box. 

8.  The  counsel  for  Caiaphas  pleading  his  case. 
*i.  The  twelve  juiymen  in  the  box. 


7. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  '        111 

the  preceding  day.  While  he  was  expatiating  on  the 
first  head  of  his  text — although  his  long  ratiocination  on 
the  legal  points  of  civil  law  have  but  few  attractions  to  the 
great  mass  of  mankind,  and  no  doubt  it  may  in  a  great 
measure  appear  so  to  the  junior  classes  of  gentlemen 
and  ladies  in  the  galleries,  who  have  been  highly  favour- 
ed with  a  Jewish  and  philosophical  education.  The 
natural  vivacity  of  their  minds  would,  of  course,  receive 
my  legal  reasoning  on  the  abstract  points. of  civil  law, 
as  insipid  to  their  refined  sensibilities — as  an  old  writer 
observes,  is  the  case  of  the  white  of  an  egg.  But  the 
solemn  attention  of  this  court,  during  the  whole  of  the 
previous  day,  has  deeply  impressed  my  mind,  that  the 
subject  has  been  more  or  less  interesting;  not  only  to 
old  gentlemen  and  ladies,  but  also  to  young  men  and 
maidens.  Therefore,  I  present  to  the  whole  of  the 
spectators  in  the  galleries — but  more  especially  the 
junior  class,  my  warmest  acknowledgments  for  their 
patience,  and  remarkable  decorum.  And  I  pray  the 
court  to  accept  this  morning  my  unfeigned  thanks,  for 
the  profound  attention  which  it  has  paid  to  my  argu- 
ments on  the  previous  day.  The  which  favourable 
elements,  of  the  wisdom,  knowledge  and  patience  of 
this  court,  almost  involuntary  leads  me,  as  it  were, 
humbly  to  forecast  in  my  forensick  mind,  that  I  shall 
be  favoured  this  day,  with  the  same  solemn  and  pro- 
found attention,  while  we  are  holding  a  solemn  inquest 
over  the  dead  body  of  a  crucified  man. 

When  the  counsel  turning  himself  to  the  judges  and 
jury  said — may  it  please  your  honours  and  the  jury,  I 
shall  endeavour  this  day,  to  the  best  of  my  professional 
abilities, to  place  the  second  head  or  member  of  my  legal 
text,  with  some  few  shades  of  law  perspicuity,  before 
the  bar  of  this  impartial  court :  that  is,  may  it  please 
your  honours  the  judges,  and  thegentlemenof  the  jury, 
the  presumptive  ground  that  I  shall  this  day  take,  for 
the  vindication  of  my  client,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar's 
innocency — is  this ;  first,  to  arrive  at  the  true  sense  of 
the  word  or  legal  term  positive  evidence.  Now  the 
court  well  know,  that  the  root  or  etymology  of  many 


112  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

of  our  words  and  ideas,  very  often  vary  their  sense, 
both  in  law  and  grammar,  and  even  theology  :  so  that 
many  of  our  words  bear  a  very  different  signification, 
as  they  stand  related  to,  or  are  associated  with  other 
ideas,  words,  persons  and  things ;  which  no  doubt, 
please  your  honours,  is  the  case  with  all  the  languages 
in  use  by  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Now,  with  your  learned  honours'  indulgence,  I  shall 
try  to  explain  my  views  to  you,  on  the  root  and  signi- 
fication of  the  words  presumptive  evidence,  by  the  use 
of  one  or  two  small  similies,  by  way  of  illustration ; 
viz  :  For  instance  :  suppose  that  a  merchant  of  Rome 
sends  his  ship  to  sea,  with  a  valuable  cargo  on  board ; 
he  wishes  his  vessel  to  make  a  safe  and  profitable  voy- 
age— and  in  order  thereunto,  he  supplies  his  ship  with 
sound  spars,  new  rigging,  sails  and  anchors — has  his 
ship  watered  and  provisioned  well,  and  manned  with  an 
athletic  and  healthy  crew — under  officers  of  the  first 
rate  experience — well  informed  of  all  the  dangers  with 
which  the  seas  abound,  through  which  his  ship,  in  her 
destined  voyage,  has  to  pass.  Therefore,  please  your 
honours,  the  merchant  has  a  justifiable  right,  with  the 
danger  of  the  seas  only  excepted,  to  presume  in  his  own 
mind,  from  the  foregoing  outfits,  and  the  strength  and 
soundness  of  his  vessel,  in  all  that  relates  to  mari- 
time affairs,  that  she  will  make  a  safe  and  profitable 
voyage.  This  is  the  idea  I  have  of  the  words  presump- 
tive evidence,  whether  in  a  good  or  a  bad  cause.  But 
once  more  please  your  honours,  as  I  wish  to  be  fairly 
understood  of  what  I  mean  by  the  presumptive  evidence 
of  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews*  innocency,  of  the  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  I 
shall  suppose  then,  by  way  of  illustration,  that  one  of 
the  eastern  or  northern  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire 
is  invaded ;  and  that  our  sovereign  lord,  Tiberius, 
knows  the  military  skill  and  experience  of  his  generals, 
and  the  martial  character  and  undaunte'd  bravery  of 
his  army,  in  all  that  region  of  his  empire;  and  that  his 
troops  are  well  supplied  with  arms,  clothing  and  all 
other  munitions  of  war;   so  that  our  much  beloved 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  113 

sovereign,  when  his  discursive  mind  takes  an  excursive 
view  of  that  quarter  of  his  empire,  he  also,  like  the 
prudent  merchant,  is  justified  in  the  purlieu,  or  if  your 
honours  please,  the  court  of  his  own  mind,  to  draw  this 
presumptive  conclusion,  from  his  own  knowledge  of  the 
character  and  martiat  experience  of  his  commanders, 
and  all  the  minor  officers  of  his  army — and  from  the 
valour  and  strict  discipline  of  his  troops,  and  all  other 
warlike  supplies  and  munitions  for  a  long  war. 

Is  not,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges  and 
gentlemen  of  the  jury  of  this  court,  our  legitimate 
sovereign  justified,  in  entertaining  in  his  own  mind,  a 
strong  presumptive  evidence,  that  the  invading  foe,  be 
it  who  or  whom  it  may,  will  be  either  destroyed,  taken, 
or  at  least  driven  out  of  his  coast?  So  that  your  hon- 
ours, with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  may  clearly  see, 
that  the  signification  of  the  word  presumptive,  is  sus- 
ceptible of  more  or  less  illustration,  from  almost  every 
occurrence  in  common  life,  in  mercantile  pursuits,  as 
well  as  in  civil  and  military  aflfairs — whether  by  sea 
or  land.  These  two  simple,  but  plain  similies,  which  I 
have  this  morning  placed  before  this  court,  are  I  hum- 
bly trust,  sufficient  to  arrive  at  the  legal  signification 
and  grammatical  force  of  the  words  presumptive  em* 
dence. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and  all  the 
other  legal  elements  of  this  high  court  of  chancery, 
having  in  my  forensick  sandals  pursued  the  perennial 
current  of  law  knowledge,  and  at  last  arrived  at  a 
legal  solution  of  the  words  presumptive  evidence,  I 
shall  therefore  venture  to  augur,  that  this  court  clearly 
see,  arises  out  of  my  client's  personal  knowledge,  which 
he  had  at  the  time  of  the  notorious  words  and  acts  of 
Christ,  and  even  long  before  the  sepulchre  was  robbed 
of  his  crucified  body. 

And  please  your  honours,  I  humbly  presume,  that 
these  things  have  not  escaped  through  the  valve  of  a 
treacherous  memory,  from  the  minds  of  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  of 

k2 


114  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

this  court,  who  have  been  so  long  highly  famed,  for  so 
wisely  and  assiduously  employing  a  large  portion  of 
your  learned  honours'  valuable  time,  in  hearing  and  re- 
ciprocating to  each  other,  all  the  new  and  strange 
things,  that  have  taken  place  throughout  all  the  near 
and  distant  provinces  of  the  empire ;  so  that  this  dolo- 
rous catastrophe  in  the  land  of  Judea,  and  noted  city 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  famous  temple  thereof,  viz.  the 
doctrine,  works  and  miracles  of  Christ; — the  great 
eclat  of  the  same  must  have  reached  your  learned 
honours'  audibility. 

Now,  please  this  court,  the  new  doctrine  this  man 
taught,  filled  the  whole  land  of  Israel  with  the  most 
popular  surprise ;  and  at  the  same  time  elicited  the  most 
profound  attention  of  all  ranks  of  society ;  not  only  the 
plebeians  or  common  people,  but  even  the  patrician 
part  of  society,  among  both  Jews,  Greeks  and  Romans, 
with  a  host  of  small  and  large  satellites,  that  daily  re- 
volved round  my  client,  the  then  high  priest  of  the 
Jews.  Therefore,  the  presumption,  please  the  court,  in 
my  client's  case,  is  this:  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  the 
then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  must  have  watched  Christ 
with  a  jealous  eye — viewing  him  daily,  spreading  a 
spirit  of  effervescence  throughout  the  whole  of  my 
client's  diocess,  over  which  he  held  an  unlimited  eccles- 
iastical jurisdiction. 

Now,  your  learned  honours  are  well  acquainted  with, 
at  least,  so  much  of  the  general  arcanum  of  human 
nature,  as  to  know,  that  rivalship,  in  either  the  profes- 
sion of  law  or  of  theology,  will  at  times  elicit  and  even 
create  in  the  mind,  the  painful  waters  of  constupera- 
ting  jealousy  ;  but,  more  especially  so,  if  the  rivalship 
should  arise  out  of  some  obscure  character,  presenting 
a  transient  coindication  of  himself  before  men,  in  order 
to  individuate  his  person  above  the  rest  of  mankind,  or 
some  low-bred  character  and  daring  adventurer,  sud- 
denly endeavouring  to  place  himself  on  the  stilts  of 
politics,  physic,  law  or  theology.  It  would  naturally 
lead  us  in  our  view  of  men  and  things,  please  your 
honours,  by  following  no  other  guide  than  the  polar 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  115 

star  of  common  sense,  which  will,  no  doubt,  lead  the 
mind  of  your  honours,  as  it  were,  imperceptibly  to 
glide  off  into  this  conclusion:  that  is,  that  such  a  plebeian 
person,  and  obscure  character  as  Christ  then  appeared  to 
be,  in  the  keen  theological  eye  of  Caiaphas,  my  client  at 
the  bar  of  this  court. 

Now,  please  your  learned  honours,  the  words  we 
articulate  presumptive  evidence,  I  shall  now  apply  to 
my  client's  case,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  Therefore, 
may  it  please  the  court,  these  things  in  themselves, 
without  the  agency  of  a  prompter,  were  sufficient,  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  to  have  fully  awakened  in 
the  forecasting  mind  of  Caiaphas  my  client,  to  put 
forth  all  the  power  he  was  in  the  possession  of,  as  the 
pontifical  orb,  in  the  heavens  of  the  religious  hierarchy 
of  the  Jews,  to  have  prevented  the  success  of  Christ, 
and  keep  him  in  the  low  ground,  in  the  midst  of  his 
plebeian  herd :  to  wit,  his  poor  Galilean  followers,  and 
if  possible  from  the  gaze  of  the  public  eye. 

And  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges  of  this 
court,  with  the  jury,  to  benignly  extend  the  longitude 
of  your  forensick  charity  to  my  client,  and  indulge  him 
with  the  possession  of  a  mind  with  a  moderate  degree 
of  common  sense  ;  then,  please  the  court,  the  presump- 
tive evidence  in  the  prisoner  at  the  bar's  case,  would 
be  this  :  that  my  client  would  act  out  all  the  wisdom, 
knowledge,  and  all  other  physical  and  mental  capabili' 
ties  he  possessed,  so  as  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  future 
success  and  rising  glory  of  Christ,  and  his  new  but 
fascinating  doctrine  of  immortality,  I  would,  therefore, 
humbly  ask  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this 
court,  if  it  can  for  one  moment  suppose,  that  Caiaphas, 
with  the  theological  telescope  of  justifiable  jealousy, 
for  the  honour  and  safety  of  his  national  church,  and 
the  visibility  of  the  nation,  city,  temple  and  religion  of 
his  forefathers,  all  spread  before  his  thoughtful  mind — 
while  his  keen  eye  is  taking  an  excursive  survey,  of  this 
young  phosphorus  or  morning  star  of  immortality,  as 
this   Christ   called   himself: — and   then,   please   your 
honours,   the  prisoner  at  the  bar  not  doing  his  full 


116  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

share  of  holy  and  every  other  class  of  duty,  which  his 
high  ecclesiastical  functions  and  office  so  imperiously 
laid  him  under.     No,  please  this  court,  it  would  be  ten 
thousand  times  more  likely,  that  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  would  fully  act  out  the  character  of  the  wise 
and  prudent  merchant,  I  have  already  placed  in  your 
view,  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  with  regard  to  his  ship  : 
so  that,  please  your  honours,  to  have  his  theological 
ship,    or    rather    national    church,    overhauled    and 
well  manned,  under  experienced  officers,  so  as  to  out- 
ride the  resurrection  storm ;  so  that  the  emersion  of 
this  star  from  the  east,  which  would  have  a  most  won- 
derful influence  on  the  land  of  Judea,  and  at  the  same 
time,  overcast  the  religious  hierarchy  of  Caiaphas,  with 
clouds  and  tempestuous  weather;  and  bring  down  such 
storms  on  his  theological  sea,  that  there  would  be  great 
danger  of  his  national  ship  (or  rather  church)  founder- 
ing.    I  will,  therefore,  with  the  patience  and  indulgence 
of  your  honours  the  judges,  introduce  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  a  short  anecdote; — although,  as  a  Roman  civilian, 
I  am  duly  sensible  that  it  is  in  some  degree  irrelevant 
in  the  legal  business  of  courts,  to  intrude  on  the  former 
axioms  and  usuages  of  this  highly  famed  and  impartial 
court,  and  that  my  forensick  functions  and  official  duty, 
ought  to  admonish  me,  not  to  unnecessarily  consume 
the  time  of  this  court,  with  hear-say  testimony  of  this 
character.     But,  before  I  proceed,  I  shall  inform  your 
honours,  that  my  client  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  did  not 
communicate   the    anecdote    to    me,    neither   did   he 
authorize  me  as  his  counsellor,  to  make  the  statement 
to  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  lest  it  might  ex- 
hibit the  errata  of  his  words  and  acts.     No,  please  your 
learned  honours,  I  obtained  it  from  another  source. 
The  anecdote  is  this:  One  day,  as  my  client,  Caiaphas, 
was  sitting  in  the  midst  of  his  friends,  in  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  news  was  brought  to  him  by  his  servants, 
of  some   of  the   strange  works  and  miracles  of  this 
Christ ;  (whether  true  or  false,  please  your  honours  the 

i'udges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  of  this  court, 
shall  not  undertake  to  say;  nevertheless,  your  wisdom 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  117 

and  knowledge,  of  what  belongs  to  the  profession  of 
law,  well  know,  that  it  is  not  the  province  of  a  Roman 
civilian  to  decide ;  but  the  case  alluded  to  is  as  follows : 
And  when  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  heard  of  the  works 
of  this  Christ,  he  gave  such  deep  groans  and  distressing 
sighs,  which  at  last  issued  forth  the  struggling  foetus  of 
his  labouring  mind,  in  this  dolorous  theological  dirge, 
to  all  the  pious  satellites  as  they  revolved  round  him, 
in  the  city  of  Jerusalem ;  when  the  tremulous  sensation 
of  his  mind,  was  somewhat  like  that  which  undulated 
the  solid  ground,  during  the  shock  of  an  earthquake. 
His  words,  please  the  court,  if  the  report  be  true,  are  as 
follows:  "What  do  wp— ^holy  brethren!  for  this  man  doth 
many  miracles."  When  my  client  went  on  to  observe 
to  his  obsequious  Servants,  that  if  we  dont  put  a  speedy 
stop  to  this  morning  star,  that  has  just  made  his  emer- 
sion from  the  chaotick  darkness,  that  had  so  long  spread 
acymmerian  shade  over  the  moral  world,  he  was  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  that  the  subdolorous  and 
deleterious  effects  would  be,  that  the  mighty  Romans 
will  come  and  put  us  all  out  of  our  pontifical  and  other 
theological  offices. 

I  have,  please  your  learned  honours,  just  glanced  at 
the  words  of  my  client,  merely  to  show,  that  by  way 
of  placing  the  grounds  of  the  presumptive  evidence,  not 
on  a  mere  postulatory  base — no,  please  your  honours ; 
my  object  this  day,  in  the  expose  I  have  made  of  my 
client's  imbecility  on  one  occasion,  is  merely  designed 
to  show  the  court,  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  was  not 
asleep,  nor  insensible  of  his  danger ;  but  manifested  a 
strong  predeliction  to  do  all  he  could,  to  arrest  the  pre- 
mature growth  of  this  young  theological  fig  tree ;  or,  if 
the  court  disapproves  of  my  natural  figure,  I  shall  say, 
the  public  career  of  Christ.  Therefore,  dropping  for  a 
while  my  trope  ideas,  which  the  court  may  conclude  is 
not  so  well  calculated  to  instruct  the  great  herd  of 
mankind,  especially  the  plebeian  spectators,  who  this 
day  fill  the  aisles  of  this  court ;  I  shall  therefore,  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  pray  the  further  in- 
dulgence of  this  court,  while  I  draw  this  conclusion  : 


118  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

that  the  popular  doctrines  and  reported  miracles  of 
Christ  were  of  such  an  imposing  character,  as  were 
well  calculated  to  excite  the  dormant  fears,  and  rouse 
every  latent  spark  of  holy  jealousy,  in  my  client's  mind; 
and  also  wound  his  tender  theological  sensibilities,  in 
the  most  vulnerable  and  delicate  part ;  so  that  the 
court  may  clearly  see,  that  Christ's  public  career  was 
not  only  calculated  to  admonish  him  of  his  danger,  but 
excite  him  to  exercise  the  utmost  vigilance  ;  while  the 
holy  fire  of  his  theological  jealousy,  was  still  burning 
on  the  altar  of  his  devotional  heart — in  a  flame  of  almost 
unsufferable  durance :  as  my  client  was  continually 
more  or  less  distressed,  ^vlth  hearing  thp  fame  of  the 
words,  and  the  reported  miracles  of  Christ ;  who  was 
daily  going  in  his  pedestrious  Juurijies,  through  Caia- 
phas'  vast  diocess ;  constuperating  his  theological  at- 
mosphere, and  spreading  a  spirit  of  effervescence  among 
his  people.  These  things  were  sufficient  in  themselves, 
to  create,  without  the  agency  of  a  prompter  to  whisper 
into  his  sacred  ear,  and  give  him  timely  warning  of  the 
impending  danger;  not  only  for  himself,  but  also  for  all 
the  great  and  lesser  satellites,  that  daily  revolved  round 
his  holiness,  as  the  primary  orb  in  the  theological 
heavens  of  the  Jews  religion. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  further 
indulge  the  defendant's  counsel  to  add,  in  addition  to 
the  remarks  1  have  advanced  as  the  presumptive  shades 
of  the  innocence  of  my  client,  as  it  regards  this  lamented 
loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
I  therefore  wish  to  enlarge  by  a  few  more  levies,  on 
the  patience  and  profound  attention  of  this  court,  on 
all  the  points  I  have  laid  down  on  the  presumptive 
doctrine  of  the  defendant's  innocence ;  therefore,  the 
next  thing  I  shall  place  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of 
chancery,  for  your  learned  honours'  high  consideration, 
is  the  taunting,  and  at  times  even  insulting  language  of 
that  mysterious  being,  whose  crucified  body  our  sove- 
reign lord,  by  some  called  the  king  of  terrors,  has  so 
recently  lost  out  of  his  iron-bound  prison  of  death,     I 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  119 

gay,  please  the  court,  that  the  almost  invidious  reflec- 
tions of  Christ  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  not  only 
against  his  personal  character,  but  his  office,  functions 
and  all  the  mundane  glory  of  my  client,  the  high  priest 
of  the  Jews.  Christ's  threatnings  were  very  often  ac- 
companied w^ith  his  artful  and  insidious  innuendos ;  or, 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  profound 
judges  of  this  court  of  chancery,  to  be  a  little  more 
chaste  in  my  style,  at  the  bar  of  this  august  court ; — 
I  shall  say,  please  your  honours,  that  his  pugnacity  of 
spirit,  his  invidious  designs  and  insidious  reflections, 
which  that  mysterious  being  in  human  form,  was  more 
or  less  in  the  daily  habit  of  openly  insulting  the  pris- 
oner at  the  bar — giving  himself,  as  it  were,  an  unbridled 
liberty  to  that  vibrating  member,  called  by  the  plebeian 
throng,  the  tongue. 

It  appears,  please  this  court,  that  at  certain  times, 
this  mundane,  or  as  he  called  himself,  an  extra-mundane 
being — for  if  reports  are  in  the  least  to  be  relied  on,  he 
had  an  amphibious  nature,  and  declared  that  he  was 
an  aborigine  of  the  physical  and  metaphysical  worlds ; 
or,  please  your  learned  honours,  in  the  ruthless  language 
of  the  lower  orders  of  society,  he  belonged  to  the  world 
of  nature  and  spirits. 

And  please  the  court,  as  I  have  before  said,  this  said 
Christ,  gave  the  most  plenary  latitude  to  the  oscillatory 
motions  and  pendulous  vibrations  of  his  theological 
tongue,  by  throwing  out  the  subdolous  threatnings  and 
gloomy  signs,  in  order,  no  doubt,  to  undulate  the  calm 
sea  of  the  defendant's  passions :  painting  on  his  new 
theological  telegraph,  as  he  went  through  the  land  of 
Judea,  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  even  in  the  temple; 
presenting  to  the  view  of  all  the  people  of  the  country 
of  Israel,  the  dolorous  hieroglyphics,  which  in  their  sig- 
nification were  portentous  of  the  decline  and  downfall 
of  the  whole  religious  hierarchy  of  the  Jews,  with  the 
honour  and  glory  of  Caiaphas  along  with  the  same; 
and  also,  the  entire  overthrow  of  his  nation,  city  and 
temple. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 


120  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

judges  of  this  court,  with  the  jury,  I  have  not  been  ^ 
placing  at  the  bar  of  this  court  things  that  are  mere 
postulatory  in  their  character,  or  things  I  have  assumed 
without  a  solid  base  to  rest  my  arguments  upon,  in 
order,  may  it  please  your  honours  that  I  should  place 
myself  in  a  state  of  nudity  at  its  bar — or  at  best,  only 
shrouded  in  a  problematical  panoply,  and  so  unfor- 
tunately fix  myself  on  a  postulatory  pedestal  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  being  vulnerable  in  every  part  of  my 
argument.  No,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  of  this  court 
of  law  and  inquest,  I  have  presented  the  foregoing  re- 
marks at  the  bar  of  this  court,  as  a  few  shades  of  legal 
light,  on  what,  I  humbly  conceive  to  be  the  presumptive 
evidence  of  Caiaphas,  the  defendant's  innocency,  as  it 
respects  the  sad  loss  of  the  crucifired  body  of  Christ  out 
of  the  sepulchre. 

And  now,  may  it  benignly  please  this  high  court  of 
chancery,  to  suffer  me,  most  solemnly,  in  the  name  of 
of  all  that  is  honourable  and  sacred  to  a  Roman  civilian, 
to  obsequiously  and  humbly  pray  this  court,  not  to 
prematurely  impugn  my  motives,  which  the  language 
of  my  plea  has  this  morning  presented  to  the  legal  re- 
flections of  your  honours ;  so  that  I  shall  iterate  my 
prayer,  and  even  beseech  their  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  jury  of  this  supreme  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, not  to  pre-judge  the  prisoner's  counsel,  as  fos- 
tering in  the  purlieu  of  his  forensick  mind,  any  latent 
design  to  unnecessarily  consume  the  valuable  time  of 
this  court.  No,  please  the  court,  although  my  profes- 
sional duty  onerously  leads  me  to  place  the  second 
head  of  my  legal  text  before  the  bar,  not  merely  to 
charm  the  volatile  fancy  of  the  juvenile  spectators,  in 
the  galleries  of  this  court ; — no,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  I  have  no  time  to  indulge  myself  in 
departing  from  the  free  use  of  prose  language,  only 
when  I  judge  I  can  use  figurative  with  more  force,  in 
order  to  charge  the  mind  of  this  court,  more  deeply 
and  lastingly  with  the  subject.  Therefore,  1  shall  gra- 
tuitously take  it  as  granted,  that  your  honours  will  be- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  121 

nignly  indulge  the  counsel  for  the  defendant,  to  humbly 
place  before  the  legal  vision  of  this  supreme  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  that  the  truth  of  my  remarks,  not- 
withstanding they  may  appear  at  times  to  have  only  a 
sandy  or  shifting  foundation  to  rest  themselves  upon^ 
being,  as  some  may  suppose,  merely,  if  not  altogether 
problematical  in  their  shades  of  evidence.  And  please 
your  honours,  I  make  no  doubt,  but  my  remarks  and 
arguments  appear  at  times  to  be  at  least  a  little  irrele- 
vant, in  our  courts  of  judicature,  or  rather  too  fugi- 
tive in  their  nature.  But,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours  to  indulge  me  to  state  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
by  way  of  extenuation,  in  my  free  use  of  allegory,  in 
the  first  place,  that  I  conceive  this  singular  cause, 
now  pending  before  this  solemn  court  of  chancery,  of  all 
trials  that  ever  have,  to  this  day,  been  brought  before 
the  bar  of  any  court,  since  law  and  courts  of  judicature 
were  known  to  the  sons  of  men,  to  be  the  most  momen- 
tous.— Yes,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  on 
the  issue  of  this  trial,  rests,  as  on  a  colossean  pedestal, 
whether  the  great  family  of  mankind  are  a  race  of 
immortals,  or  only  earthly  beings :  seeing  that  their 
immortality  is  so  interwoven  with  this  trial — and  by 
an  adhesion,  which  all  the  most  insidious  logic  which 
the  human  mind  is  master  of,  cannot  cut  the  complica- 
ted knot  asunder ; — its  tenacity  is  so  cohesive  in  its 
grasp,  that  Hercules  himself  could  not  break  its  hold ; 
that  is,  please  this  court,  whether  the  crucified  body  of 
that  mysterious  being  in  human  form,  called  Christ,  was 
by  his  disciples  or  any  other  unknown  agency,  stolen  out 
of  the  sepulchre.  For  if  this  report  be  true,  then  I 
solemnly  aver,  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  that  the  whole  of 
mankind  have  no  other  solid  hope  under  heaven,  deriv- 
able from  any  other  source  or  quarter,  of  an  indubitable 
character,  to  rest  the  sheet-anchor  of  our  hope  upon. 
But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  if  that 
mysterious  being,  who  is  called  Christ,  went  out  of  the 
dark  dungeon  or  old  custotn-house  of  death ;  or,  in  un- 
feigned language,  went  out  of  the  sepulchre  by  some 
supramundane,  or  what  his  followers  call  divine  power; 


122  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

then,  and  in  that  case,  the  gods  have  set  their  broad 
seal  to  the  truth  of  all  his  miracles  and  doctrine.  This, 
the  court  will  no  doubt  grant,  is  a  simple  but  fair  con- 
clusion. 

Seeing,  then,  that  the  cause  now  pending  at  the  bar, 
involves  the  general  and  eternal  interest  of  all  the  great 
family  of  mankind,  with  the  onerous  interest  of  two 
worlds  ;  I  humbly  presume,  therefore,  that  the  court 
will  benignly  pardon  the  liberty  I  have  taken,  in  as- 
suming, in  some  small  degree,  the  office  and  functions 
of  a  theologian  at  its  bar. 

I  shall  now,  by  the  indulgence  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  proceed  with  the  shades  of  my  client's 
innocence,  in  a  further  development  of  the  second  head 
of  my  legal  text ;  that  is,  the  presumptive  evidence  of 
Caiaphas;  being  entirely  innocent  of  the  loss  of  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  In  the  first  place, 
it  onerously  devolves  on  me,  in  the  faithful  discharge 
of  my  duty  to  the  cause  of  the  defendant,  who  is  in 
durance,  as  a  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  to  in- 
form your  learned  honours  and  the  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  that  the  notorious  language,  and  insulting  sayings 
of  this  Christ,  associated  with  his  ruthless  manner  of 
communicating  his  ideas,  in  the  presence  of  the  humble 
and  obsequious  servants  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest 
of  the  Jews — whenever,  please  your  honours,  he  sent 
any  of  them  to  demand  of  this  mysterious  being  a  sight  of 
his  official  credentials,  and  to  let  them  see  his  theologi- 
cal diploma  from  the  God  of  Israel.  Or,  please  the 
court,  to  use  language  of  my  client's  verbation,  a  sign 
from  heaven. 

Now,  please  the  court,  suffer  me  to  place  his  ag- 
gravating replies  to  Caiaphas  and  his  servants,  which 
were  in  substance  as  follows  :  to  wit — that  no  catego- 
rical answer  [nor  any  oflicial,  or  authorized  sign  shall 
be  exhibited,  in  the  theological  heavens  of  the  national 
hierarchy  of  the  Jews'  religion]  should  be  given  them, 
but  the  hieroglyphics  of  one  of  their  old  prophets.  And 
in  order,  please  your  learned  honours,  that  I  may  not 
keep  your  minds  in  suspense  any  longer,  I'll  give  to  the 


I 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  123 

court,  Christ's  own  words  verbatim :  "  An  evil  and 
adulterous  generation  asketh  for  a  sign  from  heaven; 
but  no  sign  shall  be  given  unto  them,  but  the  sign  of 
the  prophet  Jonas :"  for  as  Jonas  was  three  days  and 
nights  entombed  in  the  body  of  some  sea  monster, 
so  this  said  mysterious  being,  who  was  called  Christ, 
declared  to  my  client  and  his  servants,  that  he  should 
descend  into  the  dungeon  of  death,  or  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  for  three  days  and  nights;  saying,  at  the  same 
time,  in  the  most  insulting  language,  [in  the  view  of 
my  client]  referring  to  the  case  of  an  ancient  city 
known  by  the  name  of  Ninevah ;  and  in  a  kind  of  sub- 
dolorous  irony  and  sarcastic  reproach, .  informed  the 
servants  of  Caiaphas,  that  the  men  of  Ninevah  shall 
rise  in  judgment  against  Caiaphas  and  his  people. 
When  this  said  Christ  had  the  further  temerity  to  de- 
clare, in  a  note  of  solemn  attention — Behold !  a  greater 
than  Jonas  is  here. 

When,  please  the  court,  this  said  Christ  continued 
his  impugning  and  irascible  language,  by  reference  to 
the  lady-like  [but  with  all  due  deference  to  the  finer 
sensibilities  of  the  more  delicate  part  of  creation,]  aspi- 
ring ambition,  and  unboundless  curiosity  of  the  first 
lady  in  the  ambrosial  drawing-room  of  a  mundane 
paradise — that  is,  please  your  honours,  the  excessive 
curiosity  of  a  southern  queen,  who  came  as  the  Jewish 
writers  inform  us,  a  long  journey^  to  see  the  glory 
and  hear  the  wisdom  of  their  so  highly  famed  Solomon. 
When  this  said  Christ  exclaimed,  in  the  midst  of  his 
disciples,  or  twelve  ministers  of  state,  [not  indeed,  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours,  wisely  as  I  should  have 
forecast  in  my  mind,  had  I  been  about  setting  up  a 
new  dynasty,  of  either  a  civil  or  ecclesiastical  system 
of  government  among  men.  But,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  that  instead  of  going  to  either  the 
Hebrew,  Greek  and  latin  colleges,  in  order  to  make  a 
wise  and  judicious  choice  of  persons,  of  the  most  pro- 
found erudition,  in  all  the  sciences  of  the  augustean 
age — and  to  have  selected  such  men  as  had  taken  the 
most  excursive  survey  of  men  and  things — and  whose 


124  CHUIST  REJECTED. 

minds,  by  the  most  plenary  possession  of  all  the  elements 
of  the  three  cardinal  languages,  that  were  in  public  use 
in  the  Roman  empire,  so  as  to  clothe  their  ideas  in  the 
most  classical  language  and  pure  style  before  that  age  ; 
so  famed  for  wisdom  and  knowledge,  as  the  augustean 
age,  was  by  some  said  to  have  been.  But,  it  is  my 
duty  this  day,  to  inform  your  learned  honours,  that  this 
said  Christ,  contrary  to  all  the  wisdom  and  philosophy 
of  the  human  mind,  went  to  the  waters  of  Galilee — that 
is,  a  small  isolated  lake,  or  rather  a  contuberous  mem- 
ber of  the  river  Jordon,  called  by  the  Jewish  people  the 
sea  of  Galilee.  And  please  your  honours,  what  a  most 
wild,  fanciful,  and  romantic  idea  it  w^as,  I  must  confess, 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  for  any  intelligent  being  of  a 
sane  mind,  even  as  it  w^ere,  to  conceive  the  idea  of 
setting  himself  up  as  the  first  or  greatest  of  theological 
teachers,  in  this  mundane  dispensation!  Certainly  none 
but  a  wild  enthuiastic  fanatic,  under  the  full  acme  of  a 
theological  fever,  and  who  was  naturally  of  a  warm 
imagination — wlwse  ideas  rose,  like  steam  out  of  the 
valve  of  a  boiler,  when  he  formed  the  idea  of  taking 
clownish  fishermen  as  teachers  of  mankind.] 

But,  I  must  return,  to  give  this  court  a  few  more  of 
the  sayings  or  words  of  Christ :  When,  please  your 
learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  I  am  credibly 
informed,  from  a  most  indubitable  source  of  veracity, 
that  on  a  certain  day,  w^hile  some  of  the  humble  and 
obsequious  servants  of  my  client,  by  the  illustrious 
names  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  [soul  sleeping] 
Sadducees,  were  standing  round  this  mysterious  being, 
called  Christ ;  when  the  steam  of  his  imagination  rais- 
ed so  high,  by  the  fire  of  his  enthusiastic  zeal,  causing 
the  rapsody  of  his  ideas  to  escape  the  valve  of  his  theo- 
logical boiler — and  in  these  excursive  flights  of  fanatic 
fancy,  in  one  of  his  allegorical  notes,  he  pitched  his 
words  on  the  martial  legions  of  the  Roman  army;  which 
may  it  please  your  honours,  this  said  Christ  boasted  to 
the  servants  of  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  the  defend- 
ant at  the  bar  of  this  court,  when  he  should  clothe  hin^ 
self  in  a  lion's  dress,  and  said :  that  the  mighty  legions^ 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  125 

of  the  Roman  army  were  in  obsequious  waiting  for 
the  nod  of  his  head,  and  shaking  of  his  majestic  mane — 
and  the  roaring  of  his  imperative  voice,  to  go  and  put 
my  client,  and  his  servants  and  friends,  out  of  office. 
And,  please  your  Iionours,  his  language  Avas  so  awful 
that  day,  I  must  confess,  that  my  forensick  tongue 
almost  refuses  to  pronounce  the  same,  although  we  do 
not  always  use  the  most  chaste  words,  which  the 
elements  of  human  language  do  so  plenarily  provide  a 
lawyer's  tongue  with;  yet,  may  it  please  your  honours, 
the  judges  of  this  court  with  the  jury,  that  for  me  to 
literally  express  his  awful  vocabulary,  to  the  servants 
of  Caiaphas,  does  almost  lay  me  under  a  sanitary  quar- 
antine, or  else  a  kind  of  modest  embargo ;  so  that  it  is 
almost  ready  to  deter  me  from  presenting  his  unclassi- 
cal  style,  at  the  bar  of  this  learned  and  profound  court 
[of  infidelity.]  But,  may  it  please  your  honours,  you  all 
well  know,  that  our  profession  very  often  subjects  our 
civilian  sensibilities,  to  great  mental  pain  and  distress, 
in  many  cases  of  litigation  and  moral  turpitude,  which 
our  calling  often  subjects  us  to  hear. 

I  have  made  this  statement  to  your  learned  honours 
the  judges  and  jury,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  whole 
court,  as  a  kind  of  prefatory  apology,  before  I  place 
the  language  that  this  wild  theologean  did  present  to 
the  pious  audibility  of  the  obsequious  servants  of  my 
client,  the  then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  a  few  days  be- 
fore the  loss  of  his  crucified  body  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

I  will  now,  please  the  court,  proceed  to  give  his 
words  verbatim,  which  are  as  follows  :  ''Fill  ye  up  then 
the  measure  of  your  fathers,  ye  serpents,  ye  generation 
[or  rather  nest]  of  vipers !  How  can  ye  escape  the 
damnation  of  hell?" 

Thus  the  court  may  clearly  perceive,  on  the  broad 
principles  of  common  sense,  that  the  repeated  insults 
that  my  client,  Caiaphas,  more  or  less  daily  received, 
either  in  his  own  person,  or  else  through  his  obsequious 
servants,  were,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  sufficient 
to  put  his  holiness  on  his  guard.  And  at  the  same  time, 
looking  through  the  telescope  of  laudible  jealousy,  at 

l2 


126  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

the  lofty  telegraph  on  the  mountains  of  Israel,  with  its 
glaring  hieroglyphic,  forewarning  my  client  of  the  dan- 
ger of  his  national  Church,  with  the  finger  of  common 
sense  directing  his  keen  theological  eye,  to  look  out  for 
the  rocks,  shoals,  and  breakers  ahead,  if  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  should,  by  any  agency  or  means  what- 
soever, find  its  way  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  impartial  jury,  in  the  solemn  box  be- 
fore the  bar  of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  I  shall  view 
it  from  the  deep  impression  that  rests  on  my  mind,  of 
your  honours'  w^isdom  and  knowledge — of  the  vast  ar- 
canum of  human  nature  ;  and  being  guided,  I  shall  now 
presume  by  the  helm  of  your  forensick  conscience,  and 
the  polar  star  of  legal  rectitude,  directing  your  judg- 
ment ;  so  that  I  am  almost  involuntarily  led  to  presume, 
that  your  honours  welt  consider  my  views,  of  the  jore- 
sumptive  evidence  of  the  prisoner's  innocence,  in  the 
loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre, 
by  this  high  court  of  chancery,  as  gratuitously  granted. 

And  may  it  please  your  honours,  Does  this  impartial 
court  believe  it  to  be  possible,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
that  is  now  passing  under  your  view,  that  Caiaphas, 
the  then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  with  all  these  insulting 
and  aggravating  sayings,  and  insidious  remarks  ;  with 
the  deleterious  threatnings  of  Christ  whistling  through 
the  royal  rigging  of  his  prenominating,  or,  if  you 
please,  fore-casting  mind — That  is,  if  this  court  does^ 
in  all  good  conscience,  believe,  that  Caiaphas  was  at 
the  time  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  sane  state  of  mind — Then,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  the  impartial  view  which  I  have  this 
day  given  the  court,  of  the  whole  range  of  the  presump- 
tive evidence  of  the  prisoner's  innocence — your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  the  jury,  will  no  doubt  benign- 
ly indulge  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews  coun- 
sel, to  say  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  that  it  were  physi- 
cally, morally,  and  theologically  impossible,  for  any 
man,  or  set  of  men,  thus  circumstanced,  to  have  in  the 
least  degree  whatsoever,  neglected  his  or  their  duty,  iit 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  12T 

not  paying  the  fullest  attention  to  watch  the  sepulchre; 
so  as  to  safely  secure  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  in 
durance  forever.  I  am,  as  counsel  for  the  defendant, 
[who  is  this  day  by  the  arm  of  the  civil  law  of  our 
sovereign  realm,  placed  in  the  criminal's  box,  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,]  bold  to  aver,  that  my  client  Caiaphas, 
the  then  high  priest  of  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews, 
must  have  seen,  that  both  his  personal  safety — his  pon- 
tifical dignity,  and  theological  functions,  with  his 
national  hierarchy,  were  all,  please  your  honours,  at 
stake;  and  as  I  have  once  stated  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  just  ready  to  be  ingulfed  in  a  most  tremendous 
and  sweeping  cataract,  into  the  bottomless  sea  of  ruin 
below,  and  be  forever  imbeded,  under  this  new  theolo- 
gical catastrophe,  to  rise  no  more. 

These  things,  may  it  please  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  I  have  in  my  imperfect,  forensick  language, 
thus  thrown  before  your  view.  When,  please  your 
learned  honours,  I  for  one  moment  consider  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  subject,  as  I  have  before  said,  and  the  un- 
bounded interest  of  the  cause  I  have  been  pleading, 
both  to  day  and  yesterday,  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court 
of  law  and  inquest,  in  the  presence  of  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  the  impartial  jury,  and  all  the 
other  law  elements,  which  this  day  constitute  the  legal 
wisdom  of  this  high  court  of  chancery  ;  I  now,  as  in 
duty  bound,  tender  to  this  intelligent  and  impartial 
court,  my  highest  consideration,  for  its  respectful  and 
solemn  attention  this  day,  while  I  have  been  placing, 
in  a  kind  of  legal  prospectus  before  its  bar,  the  second 
member  or  head  of  my  legal  text ;  that  is,  the  presump- 
tive shades  or  evidence  of  my  client's  innocence,  f 
shall  now  say  no  more  on  this  head  of  my  forensick 
text. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  counsellor  had 
sat  down,  that  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  signified  to  the 
court,  that  the  hour  of  adjournment  had  arrived.  So 
the  court  adjourned  to  meet  the  next  day. 


128 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  sixth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of 
the  criicifed  body  of  Christy  as  it  has  been  reported  ; — 
firsts  by  the  watch  ;  secondly^  by  Caiaphasthe  high  priest 
of  the  Jews,  to  this  day  ;  and  confirmed  by  Free  thinkers, 
Philosophers,  Deists  and  Atheists,  of  modern  times  ;  who 
all  profess  to  believe,  that  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
was  stolen  oid  of  the  sepulchre,  vnder,  or  during  the  in- 
terregnum  of  a  trance,  by  the  subdolorous  agency  of  his 
disciples. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus,  or 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  met  pursuant  to  ad- 
journment, at  rather  an  early  hour  on  the  morning  of 
the  sixth  day.     And  the  five  judges,  with  the  jury,  and 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword. 

No.  2.  Ti-uth  weighing  the  evidence  that  has  or  shall  be  given  into  this 
court,  during  this  trial. 

No.  3.  ^he  five  judges  who  ti-y  this. cause. 

No.  4.  The  States-attorney  taking  his  'notes. 

No.  5.  The  high  priest,  Caiaphas,  in  the  criminal's  box,  before  the  bar  of 
this  court. 

No.  6.  The  counsellor  who  pleads  the  cause  of  Caiaphas'Uie  high  priest 
of  the  Jews. 

No.  7.  The  twelve  jurymen  in  the  box. 


I 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  129 

all  the  other  learned  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  having  ar- 
rived and  resumed  their  seats;  and  when  the  usual 
forensick  comity  and  law  formalities  of  this  high  court 
of  chancery  were  all  performed,  the  learned  barrister, 
for  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  rose,  and  in 
a  lucid  manner,  which  was  highly  entertaining,  by  the 
melodious  intonations  of  a  flexible  voice,  gently  flowing 
down  the  oral  streams  of  his  usual  eloquent  style  ; 
which,  by  the  force  of  his  persuasive  reasoning,  carry- 
ing all  before  him  into  the  great  sea  of  his  law  know- 
ledge ;  when,  w  ith  a  graceful  display  of  civick  humility, 
he  tendered  his  high  considerations  and  most  profound 
homage,  to  the  whole  court,  for  its  solemn  attention  on 
the  two  previous  days  of  his  pleading.  And  said,  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours — my  professional  duty 
and  legal  obligations  to  my  client — under,  I  trust  the 
steady  helm  of  my  conscience,  and  the  Magna-Charta 
of  Roman  law,  as  my  compass,  and  truth  for  my  polar 
star — w^hile  I  w^as  endeavouring  to  place  the  two  former 
heads  of  my  legal  text,  before  the  bar  of  this  high  court 
of  law  and  inquest,  which  were  the  circumstantial  and 
presumptive  evidence  of  my  client's  innocence.  And, 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  and 
gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  this  morning  experience  the 
most  plenary  assurance  in  my  own  mind,  drawn  from 
the  fav^ourable  signs  which  I  saw  the  two  preceding 
days,  in  the  calm  and  patient  lineaments  of  all  the 
countenances  of  this  court,  in  the  indulgence  which  the 
whole  index  of  the  court  has  manifested  towards  my 
defence  of  the  prisoner's  words  and  acts,  which  had 
any  bearing  on  the  subdolorous  loss,  the  nebulous 
empire  of  death  had  sustained,  by  the  late  robbery  of 
the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  your  honours,  I  shall,  from  these 
favourable  omens,  with  which  1  have  been  indulged 
by  the  profound  attention  of  this  court ;  so  that,  please 
your  honours,  I  am,  as  it  were,  involuntarily  led  to  take 
it  as  gratuitously  granted,  that  I  shall  be  further  in- 
dulged with  its  most  serious  attention  to  day,  while  I 
shall  proceed  to  embargo  this  court,  with  the  last  levy 


130  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

from  my  legal  text,  on  its  patience,  in  the  defence  of 
my  client's  innocence,  which  I  have  pledged  myself  to 
the  court  to  finish  this  day,  if  possible.  Therefore,  in 
the  consecutive  order  I  have  fixed  in  my  mind,  for  the 
elucidation  of  my  subject,  is  the  third  and  last  member 
of  the  text,  which  will  occupy  the  court's  patience  this 
day,  which  your  honours,  by  reference  [no  doubt]  to 
the  notes  you  have  taken  of  my  proposed  plan,  in 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  your  honours  will  remem- 
ber, is  the  positive  evidence  my  text  binds  me  to  pre- 
sent to  the  court,  of  the  defendant's  innocence,  of  the 
loss  or  escape  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  as  the 
case  may  be,  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  be- 
fore I  enter  on  the  ground  of  the  argument,  it  will,  I 
humbly  presume,  be  necessary  for  me  to  give  the  court 
a  short  elucidation  of  my  views,  of  the  signification 
which  the  words  convey  to  my  mind,  of  the  legal  term, 
positive  evidence;  and  I  do  not  know,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  whether  it  is  within  the  province  of  my 
professional  talents  and  mental  capabilities,  to  give  the 
court  a  better  paraphrase  on  the  legal  term  and  gram- 
matical s'lgmhcaiion  of  the  words  positive  evidence,  than 
one  I  perchance  met  with,  in  a  certain  old  writer,  [by 
the  name  of  John]  which  is  as  follows  :  "  That  which 
we  have  heard  with  our  ears  ;  that  which  we  have  seen 
with  our  eyes  ;  and  that  which  our  hands  have  handled, 
of  the  word  of  life.''  I  shall  not,  please  your  learned 
honours,  with  the  gentlemen  of  ihe  jury,  as  a  Roman 
lawyer,  undertake  to  elucidate  or  define  what  the 
writer  means  by  the  idea  or  phrase  the  word  of  life: — 
therefore,  be  his  object  what  it  may,  which  he  had  in 
view,  I  shall  pass  it  by,  and  only  trouble  the  court  with 
the  collocation  of  his  word^,  and  his  concise  arrange- 
ment of  the  most  cardinal  senses  of  our  physical  nature, 
which  this  author  has  called  forth  into  the  theological 
field  of  positive  evidence.  And  I  pray  the  court  to  in- 
dulge me  to  call  his  little  auxiliary  triumvirate  army 
of  ideas,  into  the  legal  field  of  evidence,  before  the  bar 


CHRIST  nEJECTED.  131 

of  this  court,  the  which  may  be  applied,  with  the  most 
legal  safety,  in  any  case  whatsoever,  at  the  bar  of  this 
court  of  law  and  inquest. 

First,  then,  may  it  please  the  court — it  appears  to  my 
view,  that  positive  testimony  can  only  be  received  as 
valid,  at  the  bar  of  this  or  any  of  our  courts  of  civil 
law,  from  the  witness  having  heard,  please  your  honours, 
distinctly  the  words  of  the  accused,  in  his  individuate 
person,  without  there  being  a  wall  or  any  other  parti- 
tion or  opaque  body,  between  the  witness  and  the 
accused.  This  kind  of  testimony,  from  the  wise  adap- 
tation of  these  three  cardinal  senses,  to  all  our  law  acts, 
and  the  constitution  of  our  physical  existence,  in  our 
courts  of  jurisprudence,  from  the  imposing  law  of 
sheer  necessity,  we  are  constrained  to  receive  dispositive 
evidence.  Secondly,  the  waiter  alluded  to,  in  his  eluci- 
dation of  the  character  of  positive  evidence,  pointedly 
marks  that  of  vision.  For  instance ;  may  it  please 
your  honours,  the  witness  sees  with  his  eyes,  the 
accused  do  an  act  of  violence,  against  the  person 
or  property  of  the  plaintiff— or  in  an  obligatory  sense, 
sees  the  accused  sign  his  name  on  some  obligation  to 
the  plaintiff — or  receive  the  plaintiff's  money — or  by 
any  other  physical  act,  which,  please  your  learned 
honours,  comes  within  the  wide  circle  of  our  physical 
nature,  to  perform  against  our  neighbour,  either  in  a 
good  or  bad  sense.  Therefore,  according  to  the 
exposition  of  the  writer,  v,^  find  that  all  our  courts 
of  civil  law,  are  under  the  same  imperious  necessity, 
to  receive  that  character  of  legal  testimony,  which 
arrives  from  our  sense  of  vision.  The  third  class  of 
positive  evidence,  which  the  foregoing  writer  alluded 
to  has  given  us  of  sure  testimony,  to  be  received  as 
legal  in  all  cases  of  evidence  in  legal  transactions  is, 
please  your  honours,  tangibility,  or  if  the  court  pleases, 
the  sense  of  feeling  to  which  the  author  referred,  has 
expressed  in  these  words  :  "  that  which  our  hands  have 
handled  of  the  word  of  life."  This  last  class  or  grade 
of  positive  evidence  may,  please  your  honours,  in  a 
vast  number  of  the  affairs  and  legal   transactions  of 


132  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

mankind,  our  sense  of  tangibility  may,  with  no  small 
degree  of  propriety,  be  denominated  the  superlative  de- 
gree of  positive  evidence. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
"with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  having  given  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest  this  concise  view  and  brief 
root,  of  what  I  consider  to  be  the  natural  and  unsophis- 
tical  derivation  of  the  words  positive  testimony,  there- 
fore, I  presume,  please  your  honours,  that  the  imperious 
necessity,  which  the  physical  and  moral  laws  of  our 
present  mundane  condition,  has  by  a  power  which  ap- 
pears to  be  infinately  above  our  controle — which  lays 
our  transactions  in  civil  life,  as  well  as  all  our  courts 
of  civil  law,  to  be  more  or  less  ruled,  governed  and  de- 
cided by,  at  least,  some  one  or  more  of  the  three  senses, 
this  antique  author  I  have  adverted  to,  for  a  legal 
solution  of  the  idea  of  indubitable  testimony. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges  of  this  high  court  of  chancery,  and  the  impartial 
jury,  having  arrived  at  the  legal  signification  of  the 
term  positive  evidence,  I  shall  proceed,  in  the  first  place, 
to  briefly  endeavour  to  justify  Caiaphas,  my  client's 
character,  from  all  direct,  or  indirect  charges,  that  the 
learned  barrister,  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  has  with  his 
usual  ingenuity  and  vociferous  eloquence,  Demosthe- 
nes-like, come  down  with  his  thundering  oratory,  with 
a  view  of  prostrating  the  mind  of  this  court — ^just  as  if 
the  oratorial  muse  had  thrown  open  its  wide  flood-gates, 
and  the  rushing  elements  had  formed  a  mighty  cataract ; 
so  that  the  overwhelming  waters  were  sweeping  the 
views  and  legal  judgment  of  this  court,  down  into  the 
constuperating  vortex  of  my  client's  guilt,  and  irre- 
trievable disgrace  forever.  That  is,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  the  heavy  charges  that  the  States-general 
has  preferred  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this 
court ;  while  his  learned  honour,  the  crown  barrister, 
most  onerously  tried  to  persuade  this  court,  that  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  my  client,  and  the  then  high  priest 
of  the  Jews,  had  been  most  shamefully  neglectful  of 
8ome  part  of  his  professional  and  official  duties  ;  but. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  133 

may   it   please  the   court,   that   notwithstanding  the 
studied   intonation  of  his  flexible  voice,   in  order  to 
overwhelm  the  court  with  a  conviction  of  the  defen- 
dant's guilt,  and  with,  at  times,  his  almost  resistless 
current  of  law  persuasion — so  that  at  the  first  glare  of 
his  trite  forensick  reasoning,  by  the  glossary  he  spread 
over  many  of  the  obscure  and  antiquated  words,  of  the 
ancient  laws  of  the  Romans,  and  applied  them  to  im- 
pugn the  words  and  acts  of  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
whom  we  have  in  charge  at  the  bar  of  this  court.    But 
let  the  court  permit  me  to  say,  that  this  lofty  forensick 
mountain  in  labour,  viz.   my  learned  antagonist,  has 
only,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  brought  forth 
a  forensick  lamb,  in  a  state  of  the  most  piteous  commis- 
eration of  ratiocinating  nudity  ;  that  is  now  playing 
about  the  base  of  the  pillar  of  my  client's  innocence  : 
but  the  puny  strength,  and  delicate  teeth  of  this  little 
quadruped,  [this  allegory  is  designed  to  set  forth  the 
perfect    imbecility   of    carnal   reason,    and    pompous 
philosophy,  against  the  claims  of  Christ  and  his  gospel 
on  all  men,]  or  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  in 
the  use  of  marine  vocabulary,  the  attorney  general 
only  raised  a  land  or  dry  storm,  over  the  horizon  of 
this  impartial  court;  just,  your  honours  know,  like  a 
windy  storm,  in  a  hot  summer's  day ;  which  the  court 
very  well  know,  only  fills  the  lower  atmosphere  with 
dust  and  gloom;  but  not  a  solitary  drop  of  rain,  to  lay 
the  clouds  of  dust  that  arise,  nor  to  refresh  drooping 
vegetation,  or  saturate  the  parched  ground,  so  as  to 
cause  pining  nature  to  lift  up  its  declining  head  with 
joy.     And  I  make  no  doubt,  but  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  well  remem- 
ber, that  the  transient  effect  which  my  learned  oppo- 
nent's dry  storm  had  on  this  court — soon  evaporated, 
and  a  clear  air   and  serene   atmosphere   of  common 
sense,  filled  this  court  again,  and  caused  a  re-action 
on  the  mind  of  the  court,  in  favour  of  my  client's  in- 
nocence :  viz.  please  the  court,  that  there  did  not  rest 
on  the  person  and  character  of  my  client,  either  from 
his  words  or  acts,  the  slightest  shade  of  suspicion,  during 

H 


134  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  whole  of  that  most  subdolous  catastrophe,  of  the 
dark  interregnum,  from  the  crucifixion,  to  the  loss  or 
elopement  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre. 

Therefore,  these  things,  please  your  honours,  it  shall 
be  my  duty  obsequiously  to  place,  this  day,  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  in  the  consecutive  order  of  my  plea,   in 
favour  of  my  client's  innocency  ;  which  I  have  marked 
down  in  short  hand,  in  the  notes  I  hold  in  your  pres- 
ence ;  so  as  to  bring  them  forth  in  due  season,  as  the 
positive  signs  of  my  client's  innocence ;  which  I  shall 
undertake  to  prove,  from  mere  matter  of  fact,  indubit- 
ably predicated  on  the  notority  of  the  words  and  acts 
of  the  defendant,  Caiaphas,  the  then  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  in  the  city  and  temple  of  Jerusalem,  at  the  very 
time  the  Roman  guards  reported,  that  the  most  notori- 
ous and  daring  act  of  irreptition,  had  been  made  by 
the  disciples  of  Christ,  on,  may  it  please  your  honours, 
the  royal  custom  house  of  sin  and  death,  (by  some  call- 
ed the  old  prostrating  king  of  terrors.)     So  that,  during 
the  intervening  period,  from  the  crucifixion  to  the  dread 
alarm,  which  the  loss  of  this  deathly  merchandize,  that 
had  been  but  the  day  before  so  securely  bounded  by 
two  of  the  most  reputable  and  responsible  characters 
for  security  in  the  Roman  empire,  to  wit:  may  it  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest — the  two 
able  and  creditable  sureties  to  which  I  refer  the  court, 
are  the  nails  of  his  cross,  and  the  deathly  blade  of  the 
soldier's  steel  spear,  with  which  the  prisoner  at  the  bar 
did,  it  is  said,  in  conjunction  with  his  civil  and  military 
colleagues,  Pilate  and  the  centurion,  to  all  human  ap- 
pearance, most  securely  bound  this  young  theological 
enemy,  in  the  old  iron-bound  custom  house  of  death. 

And  now,  pleas^e  the  court,  suffer  me  to  most  devout- 
ly and  humbly  ask  your  learned  honours,  if  your  minds 
are  calmly  and  patiently  desirous  to  hear  my  specifica- 
tions, which  I  have  prepared  to  present  before  the  bar 
of  this  intelligent  and  enlightened  court?  Therefore, 
may  it  please  your  honours,  I  this  day  experience  a  full 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  137 

assurance  in  my  own  mind,  that^  the  old  adage  close  in 
satisfy  the  most  skeptical  -that  "  a  bird  in  the  hand  of 
rectitude,  throughoutthn  the  bush  of  immortality;"  or 
action;  to  wit :  plep.of  mere  ideal  or  imaginary  beings, 
ment  of  the  crucise  your  honours,  he  came  out  of  his 
chre.  There fi aid  off  his  holy  vestments  or  sacerdotal 
such  an  enl'and  went  to  work  like  a  wise  man ; — ^just  like 
it  is  this  c"  who  our  forecasting  or  auguring  sages  say, 
anteced  se  up  about  the  eighteenth  degree  of  the  longi- 
impartof  descending  time — who  shall  limit  their  re- 
from  ches  to  things  that  are  more  immediately  associa- 
tary  with  this  present  dispensation, 
pie  And  now,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
to  td  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  it  is  in  my  power  to  in- 
for«rm  this  court,  that  my  client,  instead  of  being  a  hot- 
thp;aded  enthusiast,  had,  please  the  court,  his  mind  rich- 
lah  imbued,  and  his  person  and  faculties  highly  cultiva- 
du  d — and  even  richly  embellished  w^ith  all  those 
anc-anches  of  Jewish  learning,  in  theology  and  other  use- 
cas'l  sciences  and  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  which 
plet3  imposing  dignity  of  his  office,  and  the  altitude  and 
my  ry  of  his  national  church,  required;  and  which,  also, 
vast  /functions  of  his  pontifical  office  called  for  at  his 
the  ons. 

court,  ong  then,  please  your  honours,  that  my  venerable 
about  to  7as  in  the  most  felicitous  possession  of  allneces- 
retrogradt  lom  and  knowledge,  with  a  full  share  of  physi- 
co-ordinatei  ^ntal  capabilities,  necessary  to  sustain  the 
sick  saiy  of  his  sacred  person,  office  and  character — he 
ple.mst  have  done  his  duty. 

bi     And  I  pray  the  court  to  further  indulge  me,  as  the 
the  geniiefnfc.Cniaphas  the  priest  of  the  Jews,  at  the  time 
court  of  law  and  inquesi,  '^^he,  to  enter  into  the  secret 
rience  the  most  entire  confidence  in  i,:*^  ynnr  honours,  it 
court  will,  as  all  our  judiciary  courts  in   the  Komau^® 
empire  do,  uniformly  indulge  the  defendant's  counsel, 
m  his  last  plea  to  the  cause  he  undertakes  to  defend, 
^  n    u^  ^^^  privilege  to  bring  to  the  view  of  the  court, 
a  I  the  cardinal  points  in  the  arguments  of  his  former 
pleading.     And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours, 


138  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Ph/ETiiXj  out  of  the  fire  and  smoking  ashes  of  this  strange 
nebulous  phenomena,  of  a  states  prisoner  breaking 
through  the  massy  walls  of  the  bastile  of  death ;  or,  if 
the  court  please,  in  other  language,  out  of  the  conse- 
quences of  Christ  rising  from  the  dead.  When,  please 
your  honours,  the  high  priest,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
took  an  extensive  survey  over  the  descending  longitude 
of  time,  and  with  his  theological  penetrating  head,  he 
would  very  naturally  draw  this  conclusion :  that  the 
grand  basis,  on  which  the  colossus  of  Christianity,  with 
all  its  assumed  magnitude  rested,  would  be  the  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead.  And 
should  it,  through  any  act  of  delinquency  or  remissness, 
on  his  part,  give  the  disciples  of  Christ,  or  any  other 
human  agency,  the  least  opportunity  to  remove  the  corpse 
of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  then  report  to  the 
world,  that  Christ  their  master  rose  from  the  dead  ;  so 
that  whether  the  report  were  true  or  false,  yet  the 
deleterious  effects  and  baneful  consequences,  that  might 
arise,  would  produce  a  most  powerful  reaction  on 
Caiaphas'  character,  person,  and  the  national  glory 
of  his  religious  hierarchy. 

This,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and 
jury  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  the  simple,  and  true  cogitations  that 
would  naturally  exercise  the  forecasting  mind  of  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  during  the  short  period  of  three 
days : — being  the  definite  time,  in  which  Christ,  who 
was  the  avowed  rival  of  Caiaphas,  before  his  death 
notoriously  declared. to  my  client  and  his  servants,  and 
through  them  to  the  whole  world,  that  this  single 
transaction,  should  be  the  grand  test  of  his  claims  to 
the  Messiahship  of  the  Jews ;  as  well  as  his  higher 
claims,  of  being  the  only  true  Saviour  of  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth. 

xA.nd  please  your  honours,  does  this  court  believe  it 
to  be  possible,  that  my  client,  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  with  this  full  prospective  map  of  future  conse- 
quences, in  ages  to  come,  spread  before  his  mind ;  and 
for  argument  sake,  I  will  only  place  in  his  hand  a  pie- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  139 

beian  telescope,  with  the  dull  glasses  of  common  sense; 
the  same  smoky  glasses  would  very  naturally  lead  the 
prisoner  to  see — and  not  only  so,  but  to  forecast  in  his 
priestly  mind,  that  the  boasting  of  Christ,  about  the 
enlargement  of  his  kingdom  in  this  world,  and  the  dif- 
fusion of  his  new  doctrine  among  men,  rested  in  a  great 
measure,  on  the  clearness  and  strength  of  the  arguments, 
and  irrefragable  current  of  open  testimony,  which  the 
loss  of  the  body  would  give  to  my  client's  enemies ; 
the  which  would  enable  them  to  accompany,  co-ordi- 
nately, with  the  most  indubitable  weight  of  evidence, 
and  open  the  door  for  them  to  proclaim  to  the  world, 
by  a  great  cloud  of  living  witnesses,  if  the  body  of 
Christ  should  obreptitiously,  by  the  agency  of  some 
subdolous  foe,  find  its  way  out  of  the  sepulchre ;  and 
then  be  reported  to  the  world,  by  his  friends  and  disci- 
ples, that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead!  which  would  open 
the  portals  of  credulity  so  wide,  before  the  lower  orders 
of  mankind,  that  all  the  unphilosophical  accounts  of  his 
doctrines,  marvellous  w^orks,  and  miracles,  which  his 
friends  and  disciples  would,  in  case  his  crucified  body 
should,  by  any  daring  act  of  some  adventrous  foe,  be 
surreptitiously  obtained  from  the  sepulchre,  before  his 
own  definite  time  of  three  days  should  have  expired  ; 
and  then  the  friends  and  disciples  of  Christ,  go  through- 
out the  world  proclaiming  to  all  mankind,  that  Christ 
their  master  rose  from  the  dead — and  that  he  perform- 
ed in  their  presence,  all  those  w^onderful  works,  so  con- 
trary to  human  reason,  and  the  natural  philosophy  of 
our  minds. 

May  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of 
this  court,  to  hear  me  patiently.  But,  the  wise  reflec- 
tions of  my  client,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jew^s'  mind, 
did  not  rest  here,  nor  stop  at  the  half-way  house  of 
future  consequences.  But  Caiaphas  my  client,  wisely 
placing  the  glasses  in  the  telescope  of  his  theological 
mind,  at  proper  distances,  so  as  to  bring  future  things, 
with  their  consequences,  a  little  nearer ;  when  his  holy 
and  pre-excogitating  mind,  more  clearly  saw,  that  the 
volatile  impression  and  transient  novelty,  which  the  re- 


140  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

ported  miracles  of  Christ  [whether  true  or  not,]  did  not 
in  the  least  degree  affect  the  validity  of  my  remarks  : 
which  are  as  follows :  That  the  solemn  impression, 
which  for  some  ages,  the  doctrine  and  reported  mira- 
cles of  Christ,  at  first  made  on  the  minds  of  vast  multi- 
tudes of  his  poor  followers,  w^ould,  by  the  descending 
longitude  of  time,  lose  much  of  their  efficacy  and  pris- 
tine influence.  And  not  only  so,  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges  and  jury — my  client,  no  doubt, 
forecast  in  his  own  mind,  that  there  would  most  cer- 
tainly arise,  in  process  of  time,  a  thousand  little  discrep- 
ancies among  his  numerous  followers,  in  the  obsequious 
imitation  of  the  queen  of  night,  the  silver  moon.  I 
say,  please  the  court,  would  be  very  liable  frequently 
to  change  its  face,  and  the  theological  shades  of  its  once 
fair  complexion,  and  all  theother  theological  lineaments, 
in  the  countenance,  nature  and  official  character  of 
Christ.  But  not  so,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours 
the  judges  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  high 
court  of  chancery,  with  respect  to  that  most  awful  [for 
Jews,  Deists  and  wilful  sinners  of  every  grade  among 
men,]  and  deleterious  catastrophe  of  the  said  loss  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  or  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead.  This  report,  may 
it  please  the  court,  whether  true  or  false,  as  I  have  often 
stated  before  your  learned  honours  ;  although  I  am 
fully  sensible  it  is  not  a  lawyer's  business  to  discuss,  at 
the  bar  of  our  courts :  yet  my  client,.  Caiaphas,  fore- 
saw, that  if  such  a  report  should  get  into  the  world, 
by  the  agency  of  his  friends  and  subdolous  disciples, 
under  the  nebulous  canopy  of  the  night,  irreptitiously 
find  its  w^ay  into  a  world  [that  is  said  to  love  dark- 
ness,] with  any  degree  of  success — then,  as  I  have  be- 
fore said,  the  re-action  would  be  nearly  the  same  on 
my  client's  person  and  glory. 

Andmay  it  please  this  court,  it  was  on  this  single 
point,  that  Christ,  the  great  competitor  of  my  client,  has 
fixed  his  legitimate  claims  to  the  true  and  lawful  Mes- 
siahship  of  the  Jews.  Therefore  please  your  honours, 
it  was  on  this  point  of  the  theological   compass,  that  * 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  141 

this  great  opponent  of  my  client's  person,  office,  and 
glory,  that  the  aforesaid  Christ,  in  the  most  full  and 
unequivocal  sense,  which  human  language  is  capable 
of,  gave  my  client,  Caiaphas,  clearly  to  understand, 
that  he  should  cause  himself  to  be  portrayed  on  the  new 
telegraph  of  his  gospel,  so  to  be  seen  and  read  by  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  as  the  rising  phosphorus  of 
immortality;  or,  in  the  use  of  such  pompous  vocabulary 
as  this :  "  I  am  the  root  and  offspring  of  David,  the 
bright  and  morning  star." 

Thus  this  wise  and  learned  court  may  clearly  see, 
that  this  decided  opponent  of  my  client,  Caiaphas,  the 
then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  had  certainly  placed  him- 
self on  the  stilts  of  ambition,  as  the  primary  orb  in  the 
new  kingdom  of  his  boasted  Messiahship — and  as  it 
were  endeavouring  to  concentrate  the  most  incontesti- 
ble  arguments,  in  favour  of  his  high  claims  to  the  office 
of  the  king  of  the  Jews.  These  sayings  and  declara- 
tions of  Christ,  please  the  court,  were  sow^ell,  and  per- 
mit me  to  say,  notoriously  known  in  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, at  the  very  time  Pontius  Pilate  wrote  these  pom- 
pous hieroglyphicks,  which  my  client  so  very  obse- 
quiously and  humbly  prayed  the  Roman  governor,  to 
transpose  the  superscription,  and  write  the  title  in  his 
own  category,  so  as  to  make  Christ  his  own  accuser; 
which  runs  thus:  ''But  that  he  said,  I  am  king  of  the 
Jews.'^ 

But,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this 
court,  the  Roman-like  bold  and  categorical  reply  of  the 
governor,  was — "  Pilate  answered.  What  I  have  writ- 
ten, I  have  written."  The  writing  of  Pilate,  certainly 
was  the  most  singular  accusation,  that  ever  was  placed 
over  the  head  of  any  criminal,  since  men  were  known 
to  have  existed  on  the  earth ;  in  that  it  did  not  declare 
nor  specify,  the  least  charge  nor  crime  against  the  male- 
factor ; — but  the  very  contrary  was  the  case;  for  Pilate 
wrote  an  honorary  title  in  these  words,  in  the  three 
most  cardinal  languages  in  the  Roman  empire,  or  even 
at  that  day,  in  the  whole  world — "  This  is  the  king  of 
the  Jeicsf"  So  that  the  court  may  clearly  see,  that  in 
the  dernier  issue  or  final  event  of  this  subdolous  cat' 


142  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

astrophe,  to  wit :  that  in  case  this  strange  story,  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead,  should  turn  out  to 
be  true,  it  would  give  the  most  decided  testimony  in 
favour  of  all  his  acts  and  doctrine. 

But  I  must  candidly  confess  to  your  learned  honours, 
that  my  heart  does  most  cordially  detest  every  latent 
idea  of  man's  accountability,  to  the  claims  of  any  theo- 
logical teacher  under  the  sun.  And  I  have  not  the 
least  hesitancy  in  my  mind,  but  my  anti -theological 
views,  fully  accord  with  the  views  of  your  honours; 
and  that  it  is  the  private  sentiments  of  all  the  gentle- 
men of  the  bar;  [of  this  court  of  Infidelity.]  Your  hon- 
ours well  know,  that  we  civilians,  see  fit  for  wise  and 
prudent  purposes,  to  keep  our  philosophical  dislike  to 
revealed  religion  a  secret,  by  wrapping  it  up  in  a  nap- 
kin, and  then  carefully  lay  it  away  within  the  drawing- 
room  of  our  minds. 

I  gratuitously  experience  a  hope,  that  this  court 
will  pardon  this  solution  of  my  views  of  theology,  in  the 
aggregate  ;  as  the  discussion  of  the  subject  of  religion,  I 
well  know,  please  your  honours,  is  repulsive  to  the  ear 
of  a  civilian  at  the  bar  of  any  of  our  civil  courts  of  law. 
But  as  your  honours  also  well  know,  this  very  singular 
trial,  from  all  its  physical  and  mental  features,  so 
imperiously  involve  the  subject  of  theology  so  that  I 
have  had  in  pleading  my  client's  cause  at  the  bar  of 
this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  use  the  words 
Death,  Heaven,  Hell,  Christ  and  Immortality,  very  re- 
peatedly ;  that  this  most  dolorous  of  all  subjects,  under 
the  canopy  of  heaven,  has  in  a  measure  become  some- 
what familiar  to  my  tongue.  Yes,  please  your  honours, 
and  that  is  not  all ;  the  gloomy  eflfects  which  it  has 
produced,  (for  it  has  irreptitiously  found  its  way)  on 
my  mind,  as  well  as  the  vibrating  member  called  the 
tongue,  that  the  idea  and  image  of  Christ,  is  often  be- 
fore my  mind — sometimes  dressed  in  one  of  his  pom- 
pous sayings  ;  and  then  in  another ;  that  is,  please  your 
honours,  at  one  time  he  seems  to  present  himself  to  my 
view,  with  a  number  of  those  miracles,  guarding  him 
from  the  character  of  a  deceiver  of  mankind  ; — and  at 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  143 

another,  with  a  vast  host  of  his  wise  and  inimitable 
precepts,  and  subhme  axioms,  as  being  so  very  repulsive 
to  the  lineaments  and  other  features,  which  common 
sense  leads  us  to  look  for,  in  the  plenary  character  of 
an  artful  imposing  hypocrite.  At  other  times  his  wis- 
dom, and  to  all  appearance,  his  more  than  human 
knowledge  of  nature,  of  men,  and  of  things,  passes  for 
a  few  moments  before  my  mind.  Then  the  altitude  of 
the  imposing  command  he  seems  to  have  had,  at  all 
times,  over  the  whole  empire  of  the  passions  of  human 
nature,  with  his  self-possession,  and  self-command,  is 
both  wonderful  and  singular !  so  that  when  the  cate- 
gory of  his  person  passes  before  my  mind,  he  then  bares 
every  legitimate  feature  of  a  teacher  sent  from  God:  so 
that,  if  there  were  ever  a  character  on  earth,  in  the 
which  a  halo  of  innocent  glory,  and  a  constellation  of 
moral  virtues  were  ever  found  located,  in  a  being  of 
human  form,  they  appear  to  my  mind,  to  concentrate 
in  this  mysterious  being  called  Christ,  combining  all 
those  divine  qualities,  spoken  of;  *'  whatsoever  things 
are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  v/hatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and 
if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things." 

What  a  most  inimitable  growth  of  grace,  and  per- 
ennial spring  of  virtue,  must  the  being,  who  fills  all  the 
veins,  arteries,  features  and  other  .  lineaments,  in  the 
foregoing  portrait  of  moral  and  sublime  excellence,  be, 
to  support  this  colossus  of  supra-mundane  virtue ! 
But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  it  would  be 
a  vain  attempt  for  me,  to  try  to  gild  the  refined 
gold  of  Ophir  ;  to  give  purer  shades  of  whiteness  and 
beauty  to  the  lily ;  or  to  throw  a  sweeter  perfume  on 
the  violet ;  add  another  softer  hue  unto  the  colours  of 
the  rainbow ;  or,  with  the  taper  lights  of  philosophy 
and  human  reason,  to  seek  the  beauteous  eye  of  Heaven, 
in  order  to  garnish  and  illustrate  this  inimitable  por- 
trait of  moral  excellence.  May  it  please  your  honours, 
this  Christ,  since  I  undertook  the  cause  of  my  client, 
Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  is  oftentimes 


144  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

passing  before  my  view,  even  in  my  sleeping  moments ; 
which  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges, 
and  the  jury  of  this  court,  I  never  experienced  to  be 
the  case  before,  in  all  my  past  life  ;  so  that  I  can  assure 
this  court,  that  if  I  had  known  what  I  now  do,  his 
holiness,  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  would 
have  had  to  employ  some  other  counsellor.  But,  please 
the  court,  I  have  began,  and  I  must  endeavour  to  finish 
his  cause. 

But,  I  must  return  to  the  consecutive  order  of  my 
argument,  at  the  bar  of  this  court :  that  is,  should  the 
disciples'  report  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the 
dead,  be  true — and  that  this  said  Christ,  as  one  of  his 
minions,  by  the  name  of  Paul,  says  of  him,  in  the  fol- 
lowing vocabulary :  that  he,  the  said  Christ,  shall  be 
revealed  from  heaven,  with  an  obsequious  troop  of  his 
mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire  ;  taking  vengeance  on 
them  that  know  not  God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Who  shall  be  punished  with 
everlasting  destruction,  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  pow  er.  When  he  shall  come 
to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all 
them  that  believe. 

This,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and 
impartial  jury  of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  is,  I 
must  confess,  the  most  awful  language,  I  have  ever  read. 
And  if  Paul's  avowed  master,  should  in  the  final  issue 
of  his  theological  career,  be  able  to  sustain  the  fiery 
altitude  of  his  burning  throne,  and  lead  in  triumph  his 
obsequious  troop  of  mighty  angels  ;  then,  and  in  that 
case,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  and  jury, 
I  must,  with  some  degree  of  chagrin  confess,  that  it  will 
be  a  gone  case  with  my  client,  Caiaphas,  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  who  forced  Pilate  to  crucify  him 
against  the  convictions  of  his  judgment,  that  Christ 
was  an  innocent  person  ; — and  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  I  have  some  doubt  whether  we  poor 
lawyers,  will  go  free  of  his  ireful  displeasure;  that  is, 
always  with  this  cautious  proviso,  that  Christ  rose 
form  the  dead.     But,  my  humble  prayer  to  our  Gods 


CURIST  REJECTED.  145 

of  Reason  and  Philosophy  shall  be,  that  they  may  be- 
nignly prevent  such  an  awful  and  deleterious  catastro- 
phe, from  ever  being  realized  by  us  gentlemen  of  the 
bar;  although  a  kind  of  dolorous  chagrin  sensation  pas- 
ses through  my  mind,  and  almost  undulates  the  con- 
scientious waters  of  my  soul,  w^hile  my  pendulous 
tongue  announces  the  fiery  language  to  the  audibility 
of  this  court. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges 
and  jury,  if  the  alarming  and  distressing  tale,  publish- 
ed by  the  eleven  disciples  and  friends  of  Christ,  of  his 
finding  his  way  out  of  the  sepulchre,  by  an  agency  that 
is  beyond  the  control  of  human  beings,  qjr  w^hat  is 
^commonly  called  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  be 
true — the  consequence,  please  the  court,  wdil  be  this : 
That  it  w^ould  give  such  a  solid  cement  to  the  individu- 
ate nature,  and  official  offices  of  Christ,  as  shall  eter- 
nally consolidate  his  embedment,  in  the  eternal  rock 
of  the  everlasting  God  of  Israel :  which  of  course, 
would  form  such  a  powerful  adhesion,  and  physical 
union,  of  both  the  individuate  and  hypostatical  natures 
of  God  and  Christ,  so  that  all  the  dislike  of  the  Jews 
of  modern  times,  and  all  the  insidious  risibility  of  the 
young  phosphorus,  or  morning  star,  in  the  heavens  of 
the  Age  of  Reason,  and  pompous  philosophy — however 
powerfully  assisted  with  the  deleterious  ravages  of 
time,  could  neither  obliterate  nor  destroy  one  single 
trait  of  excellence,  from  the  nature,  character  and 
glory  of  Christ.  That  is,  please  this  court,  if  the  re- 
port of  the  escape  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre,  be 
true. 

Your  learned  honours,  the  judges  and  gentlemen  of 
the  jury  of  this  court,  may  now  clearly  see,  without 
rising  in  logical  capabilities  above  the  acme  of  a  way- 
faring man,  how  simple  the  position,  on  which  the 
whole  truth  of  the  revelation,  which  God  has  made  to 
the  children  of  men,  rests  its  whole  weight  of  evidence, 
and  converges  the  whole  force  of  its  indubitable  testi- 
mony, in  favour  of  the  truth  of  the  christian  religion ; 
or  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  with  his  high  claims 


146  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

to  the  Messiahship  of  the  Jews,  and  the  promised 
Saviour  of  the  world.  All  of  which  simply  turns  on 
this  single  point  of  the  gospel ;  namely — may  it  please 
this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  Whether  the  disciples 
and  friends  of  Christ,  or  any  other  subdolous  foe,  stole 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre  ; — or 
whether  Christ  did,  by  his  own  supernatural  power, 
raise  himself  from  the  dead.  The  magnitude  of  the 
subject  is  such,  that  this  court  will  admit  the  relevancy 
of  my  tautologous  remarks. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges  of  this  court,  with  the  impartial  jury  in  the  box, 
to  what  a  small  point  of  the  logical  compass,  is  this 
long,  but  inflexible  controversy,  of  eighteen  hundred 
years,  by  this  child-like,  or  simple  way  of  reasoning 
and  arguing  on  the  subject — in  this  long  dispute,  be- 
tween the  christian,  Jews  and  Deists.  So  that  the 
court  may  see,  that  this  simple  rule  of  common  sense, 
reduces  the  subject  of  contention,  between  the  three 
grand  divisions,  which  constitute  the  cardinal  parties 
in  this  long  protracted,  but  irascible  controversy  r 
namely — the  Deist,  the  Jews,  and  Christian. 

Why,  please  your  learned  honours,  it  appears  to 
Caiaphas'  counsel,  just  as  plain  and  simple,  as  two  and 
two,  if  you  amalgamate  or  put  them  together,  will  make 
four,  as  Balaam  observes  in  one  of  his  letters.  And 
now,  please  the  court  to  indulge  the  defendant's  counsel 
to  apply  this  simple  logic  to  the  case  of  Christ  rising 
from  the  dead;  then  the  plain  and  self-evident  conclu- 
sion, and  at  the  same  time,  clear  and  safe  inference 
that  I  shall  draw,  is  this,  please  your  honours,  That  if 
Christ  did  surely  rise  from  the  dead,  then  the  glory  of 
his  person,  the  exaltation  of  his  character,  the  rising 
grandeur  of  his  Mediatorial  reign,  and  the  plenary 
establishment  of  his  Messiah's  kingdom,  in  favour  of  the 
Jews,  in  this  present  dispensation,  will  ere  long  most 
assuredly  take  place.  Then  will  the  glory  of  his  per- 
son appear  before  all  men,  and  human  reason  and  pom- 
pous philosophy,  be  constuperated   with   everlasting 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  147 

shame  and  moral  disgrace,  world  without  end  :  Amen, 
says  the  writer. 

At  which  pause  of  Caiaphas' counsel,  the  chief  judge 
rose  and  stated  to  the  court,  that  he  had  once  read  an 
account  of  a  certain  great  king,  of  rather  a  sombre 
complexion,  that  paid  a  friendly  visit  to  a  rural  college, 
situated  on  the  eminence  of  a  lofty  mountain.  The 
college  had  but  one  student — when  the  king,  who  was 
a  very  great  promoter  of  the  sciences,  had  the  philan- 
thropic curiosity  to  visit  the  same  ;  when  he  found  the 
young  student  alone,  and  so  deeply  immured  in  his 
studies,  that  the  young  collegian  had  forgotten  to  eat 
bread  for  forty  days.  The  king,  viewing  the  cada- 
verous countenance  of  the  student,  and  the  lassitude 
of  his  physical  powers,  after  he  had  ascended  the  aclivity 
of  a  very  high  mountain  without  any  retinue,  or  even 
a  solitary  servant ;  he  of  course  took  nothing  with  him 
to  attract  the  laws  of  gravity,  so  as  to  make  the  ascent 
more  fatiguing  to  his  royal  highness; — therefore,  in 
order  to  make  manifest  to  his  princely  mind,  the  great 
progress  this  solitary  abstemious  student  had  made  in 
his  new  but  abstract  science,  of  the  theology  of  the 
soul's  immortality.  The  king,  in  order  to  ascertain 
the  full  extent  of  his  theological  powers,  for  some  reason 
best  known  to  the  philosophy  of  his  majesty's  sable 
mind,  imperatively  ordered  the  starving  collegian,  to 
command  that  the  stones  on  the  top  of  the  mountain 
should  change  their  physical  nature,  so  as  to  become 
loaves  of  bread.  When  this  young  collegiate's  answer 
to  his  sable  honour  was,  "That  man,"  as  a  certain 
writer  has  written,  "shall  not  live  by  bread  alone.; 
but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God." 

But,  please  this  court,  this  afternoon,  the  physical 
calls  of  nature  has  laid  such  an  onerous  embargo  on 
our  appetites,  that  with  all  due  deference  to  the  young 
collegian's  sententious  theological  opinion,  I  declare  to 
this  court,  that  we  judges  cannot  live  on  forensick 
vociferous  sound,  or  the  words  of  our  lawyers  alone ; 


148  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

but  by  every  article  that  earth  produces  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  man. 

And  as  it  is  now  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day,  I  per- 
ceive the  prisoner's  counsel  v^ill  not  get  through  the 
defence  of  his  client,  by  the  sixth  hour  of  the  evening; 
therefore,  with  the  advice  of  my  associates,  the  four 
judges  with  n^  on  the  bench,  I  shall  adjourn  this  court 
till  to-morrow ;  so  as  to  grant  the  counsel  another  day 
to  finish  his  client's  cause.  When  the  court  stood  ad- 
journed, to  meet  in  the  same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


149 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  seventh  day  of  the  trial,  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus,  or 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  met  pursuant  to  adjourn- 
ment, on  the  morning  of  the  seventh  day  of  this  all  im- 
portant trial.  And  after  the  usual  preliminary  forms 
of  the  court,  were  gone  through  with,  the  learned  bar- 
rister, employed  by  Caiaphas  to  defend  his  cause,  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  rose  and  said — may  it  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  with  the 
impartial  jury  in  the  box,  having  experienced  a  great 
degree  of  disappointment,  in  my  not  fully  coming  up 
to  my  promise,  in  finishing  the  pleading  of  my  client's 
cause  on  the  previous  day,  which  lays  me  under  the 


Figure  1.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword. 

Xo.  2.  Truth  weighing  all  the  evidence,  that  has  or  shall  be  given  into 
this  court,  dm-ing  this  trial. 

No.  3.  The  five  judges  who  are  appointed  by  the  king  to  try  this  cause. 

No.  4.  The  States-attorney  taking  his  notes. 

Xo.  5.  Caiaphas  in  the  criminal's  box,  before  the  bar. 

No.  6.  The  counsellor  who  pleads  for  the  high  priest. 

No.  7,  The  twelve  jurymen  in  the  box. 

w2 


150  CHRIST  EJECTED. 

onerous  necessity,  of  once  more  eliciting  the  profound 
attention  of  this  court,  while  I  proceed  in  presenting  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  to  day,  some  of  the  most  alarm- 
ing language  of  Christ,  either  to  the  prisoner  at  the  bar 
himself,  or  else  to  his  humble  servants.     When  Christ, 
whom  your  honour,  the  chief  judge,  has  branded  with 
the  appellative  of  a  run-a-way,  from  his  two  bonds- 
men the  nails  of  his  cross,  and  the  soldier's  spear ;  that 
this  Christ  has  said,  in  the  most  insulting  language  and 
notorious  manner,  that  he  would  come,  and  that  too 
without  the  gracious  indulgence,  and  even  the  consent 
of  my  client,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews  ;  yes,  may  it 
please  your  honours,  he  had  the  provoking  audacity, 
to  publickly  announce  to  my  client,  who  was  at  that 
time  the  theological  shepherd  of  the  house  of  Israel, 
that  he  would  come  and  cast  my  client  (who  was  at 
that  time  the  primary  orb  of  the  Jewish  church,)  to  the 
earth.     When  this  said  Christ,  calling  himself  a  mas- 
ter in  Israel,  or   Doctor  of  Theology ;   and  at  other 
times,  both  a  sublime  chymist  and  profound  physician, 
informed  some  of  the  servants  of  Caiaphas,  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  that  he  would  so  sublimate  the 
whole  of  the  gross  materials  of  the  Jewish  theism, 
or  rather  the  Law  which  Moses  had  given  to  the  sons 
of  Israel,  about  fourteen  hundred  years  antecedent  to 
my  client's  days;  and  with  those  sublimated  materials, 
come  at  the  end  of  only  three  short  days.     So  that  he 
would   not   exercise^   either  their  physical  or  mental 
patience  long,  in  deciding  the  only  test,  that  he  in  his 
wisdom  saw  proper  to  give  the  Jewish  nation,  and  with 
them  the  whole  world  of  dying  men,  as  the  dernier 
evidence,  that  he  was  a  teacher  sent  from  God ;  with 
the   most   plenary   wisdom,    knowledge,    power    and 
authority,  to  do  just  as  he  pleased  :  and  that  he  should 
execute  judgment  upon  my  client  Caiaphas;  and  also, 
in  proper  time,  upon  all  men.     And  in  a  kind  of  subli- 
mate irony,  by  a  wonderful  turn  he  had,  in  the  ready 
use  of  sarcastick  language; — when,  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  with  the  impartial 
jury,  this  said  Christ  informed  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  151 

that  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  a  short  nap  in  the  anti- 
chamber  of  the  king  of  terrors — when,  in  the  words  of 
one  Solomon,  he  exclaims  to  his  friend,  meaning  what 
he  in  his  pompous  allegories  set  forth  as  his  whole  church, 
''I  have  put  off  my  coat,  [of  my  human  nature,  and 
laid  the  same  in  the  dark  dungeon  of  death,]  how  shall 
I  put  it  on  ?"  or  clothe  my  cadaverous  and  crucified 
body,  with  the  morning  dress  of  immortality  ;  in  order 
that  he  might  walk  out  of  the  anti-chamber  of  the 
palace  of  his  sable  majesty,  with  renewed  vigour  and 
comeliness ;  and  then  go  into  the  drawing  room  of  the 
paradise  of  God. 

This  being  done,  he  informed  the  servants  of  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  my  client,  that  he  should  take 
a  few  tools  of  the  baser  sort,  which  mostly  consisted  of 
some  ignorant  fishermen  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  ;  and  that 
with  these  insignificant  tools,  as  the  old  serpent  himself 
would  scarcely  pick  up  from  oflftlie  dung-hill  of  plebeian 
ignorance  and  poverty  : — and  that  he  the  said  Christ, 
would  go  very  leisurely  to  work,  and  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  a  new  theological  dynasty  ;  or  what  he  in  his 
pompous  style  called  the  kingdom  of  God.  And  that 
by  his  own  personal  strength,  would  support  the  whole 
colossus  of  his  church,  and  bear  the  weight  of  this 
spiritual  building  on  his  own  shoulders  ;  and  also  place 
himself,  as  the  grand  key-stone,  in  the  centre  of  the 
great  arch  ;  in  order  to  bind  this  stupendous  dome  fast 
together ;  w^hich  as  a  theological  canopy,  would  spread 
itself  over  the  whole  edifice  of  his  spiritual  kingdom  ; 
or,  what  he  in  the  perennial  current  of  his  metaphors, 
called  his  Gospel  church  on  earth. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  the  impartial  jury  of  this  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  as  I  perceive  the  strangers  in  all  the  galleries 
of  the  court  are  in  anxious  w^aiting,  which  I  consider 
as  a  prompter  to  remind  me  of  my  duty  to  my  client ; 
and  also  the  declining  shadows  of  obreptitious  time 
admonishes  me,  that  the  day  of  my  probation,  as  w^ell 
as  the  time  which  the  court  have  allowed  me  to  end 
my  plea,  in  the  defence  of  my  client,  is  fast  wearing  off; 


152  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

SO  that  it  is  high  time  for  me  to  place  the  positive 
evidence  of  the  prisoner's  innocence,  of  the  sad  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  at  the 
bar  of  this  court. 

Now,  the  first  thing  that  I  owe  to  the  cause  and  in- 
terest of  my  client,  this  day  is,  I  ask  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  whether  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  did  perform  on  this  occa- 
sion his  full  share  of  duty  ?  I  answer  the  court  that  he 
did.  When  he  went,  please  your  honours  the  judges, 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  in  company  with  a 
number  of  his  faithful  servants  to  Pontius  Pilate,  the 
Roman  governor  of  Judea,  in  the  days  of  Tiberius 
Caesar ;  and  that  too  please  your  honours,  and  I  pray 
the  court  to  pay  particular  attention  unto  this  little 
cog  in  the  theological  wheel,  which  has  a  great  bear- 
ing on  the  truth  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God : 
Caiaphas  went,  I  iterate,  while  these  alarming  things 
were  passing  through  his  theological  mind,  as  he  stood 
clad  in  his  pontifical  robes,  w  ith  his  serious  and  por- 
tentious  mind,  eagle-like,  soaring  aloft  with  the  pene- 
trating vision  of  the  vulture,  flying  over  his  theological 
heavens ;  while  his  sagacious  thoughts  were  taking  an 
excursive  flight  over  the  vast  sea  of  future  consequences; 
and  at  the  same  time,  the  high  priest's  mental  vision 
was,  no  doubt,  discursively  w^eighing  all  the  onerous 
responsibilities,  which  would  devolve  on  him,  if  the 
body  of  Christ  should  elope  out  of  the  sepulchre  ;  or, 
the  idea  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead, 
get  out  into  the  world. 

These  wise  and  timely  reflections  of  Caiaphas,  fore- 
w^arned  him  of  the  dense  and  dark  clouds,  that  would 
soon  rise  out  of  the  escape  of  the  body  of  Christ  from 
the  sepulchre,  with  the  furious  blasts  which  these 
clouds  would  send  forth,  and  cause  the  undulated  sea 
to  run  mountainously  high,  with  the  angry  waves  and 
their  foaming  heads,  just  ready  to  break  on  his  person 
and  office,  and  ingulf  him  with  his  church,  city,  tem- 
ple and  nation,  in  the  yawning  and  enclosing  trough  of 
ruin,  shame  and  disgrace  forever.     Therefore,  may  it 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  153 

please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  with  I  trust  the  most  impartial 
jury  that  were  ever  to  this  day  seated  in  the  jury  box 
before  the  bar  of  this  court — I  can  this  day  inform  the 
court,  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  Caiaphas  the  then 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  in  company  with  a  goodly 
number  of  the  dignitaries  of  his  national  hierarchy,  went 
most  assiduously,  and  let  me  add,  faithfully  to  work ; — 
First,  please  your  honours,  by  wisely  adopting  the 
most  judicious  measures,  and  prudently  executing  the 
most  cautious  plans,  that  could  be  called  forth  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment.  That  is,  please  your  learned 
honours,  all  the  military,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  re- 
sources, were  called  into  immediate  requisition,  that 
were,  at  the  time  being,  within  the  vast  range  of  the  high 
priest's  capabilities:  when  he,  w^ith  the  high  dignitaries 
of  his  national  hierarchy,  went  like  the  wise  men  from 
the  east,  unto  Pilate,  saying  sir,  we  have  seen  this 
ominous  star  over  the  garden,  and  are  come  to  guard 
the  same,  against  the  danger  that  threatens  the  escape 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
When  Caiaphas  and  his  pious  coadjutors,  in  the  good 
work  of  guarding  the  repose  of  the  dead  in  the  silent 
urn,  went  to  the  Roman  governor's  palace  and  said ; 
sir,  we  w^ell  remember  all  the  pompous  words  and 
taunting  boastings,  of  that  wild  enthusiastic  character 
we  have  crucified — that  he,  sir,  was  in  the  daily  habit 
of  gratuitously  throwing  out  among  the  good  citizens 
of  Jerusalem,  and  throus^hout  the  land  of  Judea;  when, 
among  a  great  number  of  his  highly  seditious  threat- 
nings,  mostly  clothed  in  some  innuendoes  language,  in 
order,  sir,  of  spreading  a  spirit  of  malevolence  among 
the  Jews,  my  people,  against  their  lawful  allegiance  to 
the  Roman  government.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  I  have 
come  this  day  to  inform  your  exeellency,  that  one  of  the 
dark  and  most  seditious  designs  of  this  great  enemy  to 
the  sensual  felicity  of  mankind,  was  contained  in  a 
singular  threatning  of  this  fanatick,  whom  you  called, 
please  your  excellency,  on  the  day  of  his  crucifixion, 
the  king  of  the  Jews.     And,  no  doubt,  your  excellency 


154  CURIST    REJECTED. 

well  remembers  to  this  day,  that  I  humbly  and  very 
obsequiously  prayed  your  excellency,  to  a  little  trans- 
pose the  accusation  on  his  cross — and  for  your  excel- 
lency to  write,  that  this  deceiver  said,  or  called  himself 
the  king  of  the  Jews  ;  and  that  it  was  distressing  to 
the  nation  of  the  Jews,  for  the  governor  to  use  the 
regal  possessive,  instead  of  the  accusative  case,  in  the 
title  you  wrote  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin.  But, 
your  excellency  no  doubt,  recollects,  that  you  answered 
me  with  the  acumen  of  lacedemonian  style — that  is, 
in  categorical  brevity,  in  these  laconick  words:  "T^^at 
I  have  written  I  have  iv?^itten.''  When,  may  it  please 
your  excellency,  that  I  could  not  but  notice,  and  even, 
may  it  please  your  excellency,  admire  your  high  de- 
cision of  character ;  although,  sir,  at  that  time  your  • 
categorical  answer  greatly  distressed  my  mind.  But, 
may  it  please  your  excellency,  that  I  be  not  further 
tedious  in  opening  my  business  this  morning  with  you, 
I  am  come  to  communicate  to  your  excellency,  that 
one  of  the  deleterious  threatnings,  that  this  Christ  threw 
out,  while  he  was  in  a  perfect  state  of  convalescence. 
When  Caiaphas  said  to  Pilate,  "Sir,  we  remember,  that 
that  deceiver  said,  while  he  was  yet  alive,  '  after  three 
days  Iioill  rise  again.'  "  And  now,  may  it  please  your 
excellency,  to  grant  me  a  sufficient  military  force,  to 
safely  guard  and  protect  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
in  the  sepulchre,  till  the  third  day  shall  have  passed  • 
away  from  over  his  dead  body — "command,  therefore, 
that  the  sepulchre  be  made  sure  until  the  third  day; 
lest  his  disciples  come  by  night  and  steal  him  away, 
and  say  unto  the  people  'He  is  risen  from  the  dead;* 
so  the  last  error  shall  be  worse  than  the  first." 

I  shall  pray  the  further  indulgence  and  patience  of 
this  court,  while  I  present  at  its  bar  the  answer  of  the 
Roman  governor,  Pontius  Pilate,  to  Caiaphas  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  who  had  the  sole  care  of  the  body 
of  Christ  after  he  was  crucified.  And  now,  may  it 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the  jury, 
that  it  was  on  this  subdolous  catastrophe — this  solemn 
and   interesting  occasion,   that    Pontius    Pilate,    the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  155 

Roman  governor,  did  fully  fall  into  the  wake  of  the 
high  priest's  views  and  alarming  fears,  and  acted  in 
full  accordance  with  the  prayer  of  Caiaphas:  and  said, 
"  Ye  have  a  watch,  go  your  way,  make  it  as  sure  as 
ye  can :  So  they  went  and  made  the  sepulchre  sure, 
sealing  the  stone,  and  setting  a  watch." 

I  would  humbly  ask  your  learned  honours,  whether 
any  transaction  among  men  in  civil  life,  or  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth  in  public  life,  when  any  sudden 
danger  threatened  them,  of  which  history  or  the  writ- 
ings of  men  give  us  any  true  and  indubitable  account 
of — and  wherein  any  set  of  men  acted  with  more 
caution,  prudence  and  union  of  effort,  to  take  care  of 
any  person  or  thing  with  which  they  were  entrusted, 
than  Pilate  and  Caiaphas  manifested  on  this  occasion  ? 
The  one — that  is  Caiaphas,  with  the  threatnings  of 
Christ  fresh  in  his  memory — placing  them  with  all 
their  alarming  and  deleterious  consequences,  before  the 
mind  of  the  governor ;  and  the  other,  that  is  Pilate, 
granting  to  the  high  priest  every  safe-guard  and  secu- 
rity, in  persons  and  things,  w^hich  the  civil  and  military 
power  of  the  empire  of  Rome,  could  bring  to  bear  on 
any  person  or  thing  that  threatened  either  the  civil, 
military  or  ecclesiastical  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the 
realm ;  so  that,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges 
of  this  court,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  if  ever 
men  deserved  well  of  their  country,  it  was  Caiaphas 
and  Pilate  on  this  occasion  ; — to  wit :  the  sealing  the 
stone  and  setting  a  Roman  watch. 

An^d  now,  leaving  the  garden  and  sepulchre,  it  is 
time  to  return  into  court  again.  And  now,  may  it 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gen- 
tlemen of  the  jury  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
to  once  more,  before  I  sum  up  my  plea,  to  refresh  the 
mind  of  this  court  with  my  solution  of  the  term  positive 
evidence — first,  that  the  witness  or  witnesses,  both  for 
or  against  the  prisoner  Caiaphas,  or  any  other  defen- 
dant, must  have  heard,  seen  and  felt,  either  the  per- 
son or  thing,  as  the  case  may  be,  without  a  vail  be- 
tween  them ;   and  the   person  they   bare   testimony 


156 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


against,  at  the  bar  of  this|or  any  other  impartial  court, 
of  civil  or  martial  law,  in  the  Roman  empire,  must  be 
of  the  foregoing  character  ;  please  your  learned  hon- 
ours, in  the  plenary  sense  of  legal  language;  to  be 
witnesses  or  positive  testimony  in  the  case. 

I  therefore  pray  this  court,  to  converge  both  their 
physical  and  mental  vision,  on  the  public  acts  of  my 
client  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  in  the  garden, 
where  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  were  deposited  and 
made  secure — for  a  legal  solution  of  the  court  term 
positive  evidence  ;  which  please  your  learned  honours, 
I  presume  is  far  better  etymology,  than  all  our  long 
winded  lexicographers,  in  this  earthly  dispensation, 
can  give  us  of  the  obvious  sense  and  legal  signifi'I:ation 
of  the  words  positive  evidence.  I  appeal  to  the  gods ; 
was  there  ever  a  transaction  that  so  fully  merited  the 
character  o^ positive  evidence,  as  the  sealing  the  stone. 

And  now,  may  it  please  this  impartial  court  of  law 


Figure  No.  1.  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  viewing  the  Roman 
officer  sealing  the  stone,  at  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre. 

No.  2.  The  centurion  in  the  act  of  sealing  the  stone. 

No.  3.  The  Roman  guards,  headed  by  the  captain  of  the  watch,  marching 
into  the  garden. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  157 

and  inquest,  to  extend  the  longitude  of  its  patience, 
while  I  shall  sum  up  all  I  have  to  say,  in  defence  of  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar;  that  is,  please  your  learned  honours, 
as  far  as  my  legal  abilities,  and  circumscribed  talents 
may  bare  me  out. 

Your  learned  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  will  re- 
collect, that  when  I  first  presented  myself  at  the  bar  of 
this  court,  as  the  defendant's  counsel,  and  undertook  to 
advocate  his  cause,  by  placing  before  the  bar  of  this 
high  and  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest — first,  the 
circumstances  in  which  my  client  were  in,  at  the 
time  of  the  reported  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ ;  this,  I  have  placed  before  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  court,  ^s  the  circumstan- 
tial evidence,  of  the  defendant's  innocence. 

The  next  point  of  my  legal  text,  in  the  behalf  of  the 
prisoner's  innocence,  that  1  presented  to  the  considera- 
tion of  this  court,  was  the  notorious  knowledge  the 
prisoner  had,  of  the  reported  doctrines  and  miracles  of 
Christ;  which  I  have  shown  the  court,  would  have 
naturally  led  my  client  to  have  kept  a  bright  look  out, 
in  order  to  guard  against  the  danger  of  rivalship,  in 
the  person  and  works  of  Christ.  Caiaphas's  knowledge 
of  the  same,  I  have  placed  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  as 
the  presumptive  evidence  of  his  innocence. 

And  thirdly,  and  lastly,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the 
words  and  acts  of  my  client  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of 
the  Jews,  from  the  hour  that  Christ  was  crucified,  till 
the  body  was  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre,  I  have 
placed  at  the  bar  of  this  court  as  the  positive  evidence, 
of  the  prisoner's  innocence. 

And  now,  may  it  please  this  impartial  court,  to  in- 
dulge me  for  the  last  time,  to  once  more  refresh  its 
memory  by  saying,  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  Caia- 
phas the  high  priest  of  the  Jews  did,  on  this  truly  mourn- 
ful occasion,  and  sombre  catastrophe,  fully  act  out  all 
his  physical,  mental,  moral  and  ecclesiastical  wisdom, 
knowledge  and  all  other  capabilities,  within  the  range 
of  his  wisdom  and  understanding ;  both,  please  your 


158  CUllIST  REJECTED. 

learned  honours,  of  body  and  mind,  that  any  rational 
and  intelligent  being,  in  this  earthly  state,  who  at  the 
same  time  should  onerously  be  charged  with  the  colla- 
teral, and  in  all  other  cases,  the  same  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances, would  be  capable  of  acting  out ;  under  all 
the  emergencies,  which  at  that  time  exercised  all  the 
powers,  both  mental  and  physical,  of  Caiaphas  the  then 
high  priest  of  the  Jews'  mind,  the  prisoner  in  durance 
at  the  bar  of  this  court. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  jury  of  this  impartial  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, I  do  most  solemnly  declare,  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  and  through  this  open  court  of  impartial  law  and 
inquest,  aver  to  tl^  whole  world,  that  an  angel  [if  such 
supramundane  being  there  be,]  but  stop,  please  your 
learned  honours,  and  pardon  the  rising  steam  of  my 
asseveration,  thatis  at  this  moment  forcing  open  the 
lower  valve  of  my  Roman  sensibilities,  and  let  me  give 
the  most  plenary  vent  to  the  warm  elements  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  my  heart,  by  raising  the  altitude  of 
my  declaration  up  to  the  heavens,  and  roundly  and 
fearlessly  aver,  that  an  angel,  yea,  a  God  could  do  no 
more,  than  act  out  all  his,  or  if  there  are  more  gods 
than  one,  their  capabilities,  which  this  day,  with  the 
three  preceding,  in  which  I  have  legally  proved  to  this 
court,  that  my  client  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  has  acted  out  through  all 
this  nebulous  and  disastrous  occasion,  both  by  day 
and  night,  till,  please  this  court,  the  three  days  had 
passed  over  the  garden  where  the  sepulchre  was  loca- 
ted, that  contained  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  in 
order  to  its  being  kept  in  safe  durance  in  the  grave 
forever.  I  am  now  done,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and 
all  the  other  law  elements  of  this  court,  with  all  the 
Jewish  and  philosophical  spectators  in  the  galleries, 
and  the  plebeian  spectators  in  the  aisles  and  areas  of 
this  court ;  and  have  freely  and  fearlessly  delivered,  at 
the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and'inquest,  all  I  have 
to  say,  in  the  justification  of  my  client's  public  and 
private  conduct,  under  the  most  disastrous  and  sub- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  159 

dolous  catastrophe,  that  ever  took  place  since  the  world 
began ;  to  wit — the  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

Please  your  honours,  I  shall  now,  as  in  duty  bound, 
humbly  pray  this  court,  that  my  client  Caiaphas,  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  be  honourably  discharged  from 
the  bar  of  this  court ;  as  having  no  share  of  blame,  in 
any  one  instance,  arising  out  of  the  delinquency  of  his 
words  and  acts  ;  nor  the  slightest  shades  of  suspicion, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  converging  a  sable  cloud, 
either  on  his  person  or  character,  in  the  elopement  or 
loss  by  robbery,  or  otherwise,  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  When  the  counsel  for 
Caiaphas  sat  down.  And  it  being  late  in  the  day,  the 
court  was,  by  order  of  the  chief  judge,  adjourned  to 
meet  in  the  same  place  the  next  day. 

Thus  did  Caiaphas'  lawyer,  ably  support  by  the 
force  of  his  oratory,  and  the  sweeping  current  of  his 
unrivalled  eloquence,  as  he  glided  along  the  meandrous 
waters  of  the  letter  and  stamina  of  the  law — protecting 
his  client  with  an  inexpugnable  shield  of  rectitude,  in 
Caiaphas'  wise  and  prudent  adaptation  of  every 
cautious  measure. 

By  the  benign  indulgence  of  Deists,  Jews  and 
Christians,  the  stenographer  presents  the  humble  re- 
flections of  a  poor  sailor's  mind — whose  roving  habits, 
excursive  fancy,  and  sailor-like  curiosity,  led  him  into 
court,  to  hear  this  singular  and  all-important  trial ;  on 
the  issue  of  which,  so  onerously  depends  the  immortality 
of  the  whole  world.  We  iterate  the  idea— that  by  the 
reader's  kind  indulgence,  we  will  place  our  simple 
views  of  the  character  and  legal  abilities  of  Caiaphas' 
counsel,  while  his  learned  honour  was  pleading  his 
client's  cause  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest. 

The  address  to  the  reader ,  by  a  christian  sailor ,  now  follows : 
The  sailor  prays  the  pious  reader's  indulgence,  to  be 
permitted  to  inform  him,  that  his  limited  talents  as  a 
writer,  are  entirely  inadequate  to  describe,  on  the 
telegraph  of  his  short  reports  to  the  view  of  the  reader's 


165  "  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

mind,  even  a  miniature  portrait  of  the  following  oratory 
of  Caiaphas'  counsel :  neither  has  his  pen  the  inate  pos- 
session of  the  powers  of  a  ready  writer,  nor  the  intui- 
tive grace  of  either  Grecian  or  Roman  eloquence,  so  as 
to  fully  spread  before  the  reader's  view,  all  the  interest, 
and  a  thousand  other  fascinating  attractions,  with 
which  the  more  than  magic  power  of  the  counsel's 
transcendent  genius,  with  a  mind  richly  cultivated,  to 
an  altitude  of  classical  refinement,  that  was  not  sur- 
passed in  eloquence  by  any  civilian  of  his  day ;  which 
invested  his  court  oratory  with  a  persuasive  influence, 
far  beyond  any  of  his  competitors  on  this  trial.  And  for 
the  reader  to  be  able  to  form  a  just  idea,  and  an  impar- 
tial judgment  of  his  forensick  argument,  and  clear  ratio- 
cinating powers,  so  as  fully  to  enjoy  the  rich  effusions 
of  his  wisdom  and  knowledge,  in  the  civil  and  martial 
laws  of  the  Romans  ;  with  his  rich  and  excursive  mind 
flying  over  all  the  forensick  field  of  the  various  bearings, 
of  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  points,  in  which  the 
states-attorney  earnestly  endeavoured  to  involve  the 
conduct  and  character  of  his  client,  under  some  of  the 
bearings  of  the  civil  and  military  laws  of  his  sovereign 
realm ; — that  had,  as  the  crown  barrister  stated,  either 
a  near  or  remote  influence  on  his  client's  case.  When 
Caiaphas's  counsel  indulged  the  discursive  powers  of 
his  mind  to  rise  to  its  full  majesty ;  and  then,  seizing 
as  with  the  strength  and  paw  of  an  old  lion,  in  his 
gigantic  legal  grasp,  all  the  arguments  of  the  attorney 
general,  and  wrending  them  to  peices,  like  the  sovereign 
of  the  forest  would  a  tender  kid. 

At  intervals  of  his  argument,  he  would  entertain 
the  court  with  his  highly  polished  periods — his  flowing 
classical  diction — gracefully  associated  with  the  melo- 
dious intonation  of  his  accommodating  and  flexible 
voice — which  created,  for  the  time  being,  a  kind  of  en- 
chanting influence  over  the  court ;  and  imperceptibly 
charged  the  court  with  a  state  of  humidity,  like  that 
produced  on  the  kingdom  of  nature,  by  the  distilling 
dew  and  small  rain  on  the  tender  plant,  and  the  show- 
ers on  the  mown  grass.  Just  so  in  a  legal  sense,  did 
Caiaphas'  counsel,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  by  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  161 

irresistible  current  of  his  persuasive  eloquence,  and  the 
overwhelming  power  of  his  reasoning,  the  adaptation  of 
his  logick — followed  by  the  strength  of  his  arguments, 
richly  imbuing  the  mind  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  with  a  full  sense  and  lasting  conviction  of  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews'  innocency,  of  the  sad  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  ths  sepulchre.  [So 
reasons  a  poor  sailor,  on  the  idea,  that  Philosophy  and 
Deism  is  no  more  than  a  kid  in  the  paw^  of  an  old  lion, 
or  a  pufFof  W'ind  from  the  fan  of  lady  Vanity  :]  so  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  eleven  disciples  to  have  stolen 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

Then  the  poor  sailor  humbly  asks  the  men  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge — the  Philosopher  and  the  Jew,  What 
is  the  inference  which  common  sense  would  draw,  in 
such  a  case  ?  Why,  a  child  would  answ^er.  That  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead.  And  the  next  idea,  which  is 
equally  as  plain  and  simple — that  the  whole  bible  is 
true  :  and  sinners  who  reject  Christ,  his  gospel,  with 
its  doctrines,  whether  Deists,  Atheists,  Jews,  and  the 
vain  philosopher,  except  they  i-epent  of  their  sins,  and 
turn  to  God,  must  be  lost  and  undone  forever.  So 
that,  except  they  believe  his  gospel,  they  will  most 
assuredly  have  the  bill  of  fare  to  pay  at  the  old  custom- 
house,  in  the  straits  of  death ;  which  says  the  Son  of 
God  himself,  shall  be  eternal  misery. 

This,  reader,  is  the  reasoning  and  argument  of  us 
poor  christian  sailors  ;  but  perhaps  it  may  be,  that 
Carnal  Reason,  and  Vain  Philosophy,  can  with  their 
powerful  arguments,  think  they  can  do  with  the  poor 
sailor  and  his  marine  logick,  as  Caiaphas'  counsel  did 
with  the  states-general's  tender  kid;  that  is,  wrend  the 
sailor's  reasoning  and  argument,  on  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel,  to  pieces,  like  a  kid  in  the  paw  of  an  old  lion. 
So  fare-w^ell  old  unbelieving  ship-mate,  till  the  sheriff, 
or  rather  (keeping  up  our  marine  language)  the  custom 
house  officers,  bring  us  too,  at  the  straits  of  death. 

Signed,  a  poor  sailor,  before  the  mast,  on  board  a 
Gospel  ship  of  the  line.     1832. 
o2 


162 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  eighfh  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre y 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  at  an  early  hour. 
And  when  the  usual  formalities  of  court  comity,  had 
been  consecutivt}ly  gone  through,  and  the  court  called 
to  silence,  the  learned  barrister  for  the  crown,  rose  to 
discharge  in  this  case,  his  last  act  of  legal  duty  to  his 
royal  master,  and  to  vindicate  the  inviolable  sanction 
of  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  realm.  And  it  being,  ac- 
cording to  court  usuage,  his  turn  as  the  attorney  gene- 
ral, in  the  behalf  of  the  crown,  to  have  the  rebutting 
plea  against  every  prisoner  or  criminal,  at  the  bar  of 
this  and  all  his  sovereign's  courts  of  judicature,  through- 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword. 

No.  2.  Truth  weiglnng  tlie  evidence  given  in  at  the  bar. 

No.  3.  Tiie  five  judges  who  try  ti»js  cause. 

No.  4.  The  States-attorney  giving  in  his  rebutting  plea. 

No.  5.  The  high  priest  in  the  criminal's  box. 

No.  6.   Caiaphas'  counsel  takiiig  his  notes. 

No.  7,  Tl>e  twelve  jurymen  in  the  box, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  163 

out  the  empire  ;  so  that  his  learned  honour  had  the 
privilege,  to  blow  the  last  blast  of  the  vituperating  legal 
horn,  over  the  head  of  the  high  priest. 

The  states-attorney  occupied  the  court  about  the 
space  of  half  a  day;  mostly  in  his  law  sandals,  with 
gigantick  strides,  going  over  the  same  beaten  path  of  ar- 
gument, that  he  went  over,  when  he  opened  the  prosecu- 
tion against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  It  being,  for  the 
major  part,  a  lucid  epitome  of  the  old  legal  ground  he 
had  occupied  on  opening  the  suit ;  so  that  the  steno- 
grapher views  all  that  the  states  general  advanced,  as 
a  mere  compendious  re-capitulation,  of  the  trite  argu- 
ments of  his  former  plea.  It  every  now  and  then  ap- 
peared, that  the  powerful  arguments  of  the  learned 
counsel  for  Caiaphas,  his  antagonist,  had  drawn  forth  a 
little  more  of  the  acumen  of  intellect,  from  this  crown 
servant; — but  notwithstanding  which,  he  raised  his  legal 
steam  to  a  little  greater  altitude,  in  his  last  plea  against 
the  prisoner.  Yet,  coming  as  it  were,  immediately 
after  the  learned  defence  of  the  high  priest's  counsel,  it 
could  not  keep  up  in  the  brilliant  wake,  w  hich  his  learn- 
ed honour  left  behind  him,  in  the  forensick  sea,  like  the 
scintillatinoj  trail  of  a  comet  through  the  heavens.  So 
that  the  crown  barrister's  vituperating  oratory,  made 
but  a  volatile  impression  on  the  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  states-general  had,  to 
the  best  of  his  capabilities,  discharged  his  fealty  to  his 
sovereign,  and  his  duty  to  the  claims  of  his  office,  the 
states-attorney  sat  down  and  said  no  more. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  states-attorney  had 
taken  his  seat,  that  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  delivered 
lo  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  the  legal  opinion 
of  himself  and  his  associates  on  the  bench,  as  follows  : 
And  may  it  please  this  impartial  and  enlightened 
court : — The  case  of  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner  in  durance 
at  the  bar — and  as  this  court  of  chancery  is  the  high- 
est court  in  our  sovereign's  realm — and  possessing,  as 
it  does,  the  most  plenary  powers  over  all  cases,  but, 
especially  those  cases  and  causes,  which  are  of  a  deli- 


164 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


cate  and  intricate  nature  :  so,  that  if  the  cause  is  too 
difficult  for  the  le^al  wisdom  and  knowledore  of  the 
lower  courts  of  the  realm  to  decide,  it  is  thrown  into 
this  court  for  final  decision.  Therefore,  in  consequence 
of  my  office  and  functions,  ac  the  chief  judge  of  this 
court,  it  devolves  on  me,  in  accordance  with  the  opin- 
ion and  legal  judgment  of  my  leb;rned  and  honourable 
colleagues  with  me  on  the  bench; — which  is,  please 
this  court,  as  follows  : — That  we  do  view  the  charges, 
allegations  and  specifications,  contained  in  the  bills  of 
indictment,  which  the  Grand-jury,  on  mere  postulatory 
ground,  have  found  against  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar ;  and  have  been  preferred  against  him  by  his 
learned  honour  the  states-general ;  and  highly  coloured 
with  the  vituperating  category  of  the  states-general,  in 
creating   the  sombre   shades   of  the   prisoner's   guilt. 


Figvire  "N'o.  1.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword. 
Ko.  2.  Truth  weighing  all  the  evidence  given  in. 
No.  3.  The  five  judges  v/ho  try  this  cause. 
No.  4.  The  States-attorney  with  his  colours  falling. 
No.  5.  The  counsel  for  Caiaphas,  with  his  colours  flying. 
No.  6.    I  he  Marshal  and  high  Sheriff  with  flying  colours,  leading  Caia- 
phas the  high  priest  out  of  the  court  with  honour. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  165 

When  his  learned  honour,  with  his  usual  acumen,  in 
the  behalf  of  his  sovereign's  laws  and  administration, 
came  down  on  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner ; — not,  may  it 
please  this  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest,  that  1 
wish  to  detract  aught  from  the  learning  or  forensick 
talents  of  the  crown  barrister,  or  in  the  least  degree 
impugn  his  motives,  in  his  oratorial  zeal,  which  the 
states-general  has  manifested  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
against  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews — in  his  so  zealously 
endeavouring  to  fix  some  dark  shades  of  suspicion, 
which  he  gathered  by  his  very  ingenious  lightning  rod, 
from  a  few  dense  clouds  of  delinquency,  which  his 
learned  honour's  official  telescope  discovered  to  be  his 
duty,  to  see  more  or  less  in  every  prisoner  or  criminal, 
which  the  arm  of  either  the  civil  or  martial  law  of  the 
realm  brings  to  the  bar  of  this  court  for  adjudication. 
So  that,  please  this  court,  although  the  crown  attorney 
and  other  lawyers,  may  with  the  rushing  current  of 
their  powerful  logick  raise  considerable  dust,  by  the 
wind  of  their  arguments,  drawn  from  the  four  quarters 
of  the  forensick  heavens — and  at  times,  fill  our  court 
houses  so  full  of  legal  dust,  that  we  judges  can  scarcely 
see  whether  the  prisoner  is  covered  with  the  sable  skin 
of  theEthiopean,  loaded  with  guilt,  or  the  virgin  robe 
of  innocence ;  which,  for  the  time  being,  was  the  case 
in  the  cause  now  pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court ;  in 
consequence  of  the  learned  barrister,  in  the  behalf  of 
the  crown,  almost  irresistless  current  of  legal  persua- 
sion and  argument,  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews.  But,  please  this 
court,  notwithstanding  all  the  forensick  labour,  and 
oratorial  turmoil,  in  his  illustrations  of  the  penal  bear- 
ings of  the  law,  on  the  prisoner  at  the  bar's  case,  may 
it  please  this  high  and  impartial  court,  since  I  ordered 
all  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  house  to  be  thrown 
open,  and  by  the  rushing  in  of  the  free  air  of  common 
sense,  which  has  driven  up  the  chimney  of  the  court 
house  all  the  dust  of  the  crown  attorney's  arguments, 
against  the  character  of  the  prisoner,  in  the  delinquency 
of  his  duty  in  the  sad  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of 


166  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre ;  Therefore,  as  I  have  be- 
fore said,  notwithstanding  all  the  thunder  of  the  crown 
orator,  it  devolves  on  me,  with  my  very  learned  col- 
leagues, to  widely  differ  in  our  judgment  and  legal 
opinions,  from  the  attorney  general.  So  that,  after  the 
most  assiduous  and  patient  investigation  that  we  have 
made,  during  the  interregnum  or  recess  of  the  court, 
in  that  short  interval  of  time,  we  have  made  due  re- 
search, throughout  most  of  the  learned  works,  left  us 
by  our  most  wise  and  able  writers,  and  commentators 
of  civil  and  martial  law,  and  at  the  same  time,  have 
taken  an  excursive  survey  of  all  the  w^isest  and  best 
usuages  of  this,  and  all  other  high  courts  of  both  civil 
and  martial  jurisprudence,  in  our  sovereign  lord  the 
king's  empire,  as  it  stands  recorded  in  all  the  chronicles, 
-laid  up  in  the  archieves  of  our  ancient  courts.  And  I 
have  the  legal  satisfaction  this  day  to  inform  this  court 
and  jury,  that  we  do  find,  in  all  the  wise  and  legal 
opinions  of  our  ancestors,  the  same  equitable  principles, 
which  we  have  adopted  in  the  case  of  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar :  that  is,  That  we  shall  not  pass  judgment  on 
any  person,  on  mere  postulatory  or  assumed  evidence. 
And  we  find,  that  our  views  this  day,  are  in  the  most 
felicitous  union  with  their  views,  and  flow  w^ith  the 
most  unanimous  accordance,  in  all  our  views  of  par- 
allel cases,  with  the  one  now  pending  before  the  bar  of 
this  court. 

Therefore,  it  devolves  on  me  this  day  to  inform  this 
court,  that  all  the  judges  with  me  on  this  trial,  expe- 
rience the  plenitude  of  forensick  gratification,  to  find 
that  our  legal  views  and  opinions,  follow^  so  close  in  the 
wake  of  their  legal  wisdom — and  as  a  small  tributary 
stream  falls  into  the  great  sea  of  the  law  knowledge  of 
our  forefathers  ;  that  is  in  full  accordance  of  the  legal 
views  and  opinions  of  those  who  have  gone  over  the 
legal  ground  before  us.  Therefore,  in  conjunction 
with  my  able  and  learned  colleagues  on  the  bench  of 
this  court,  I  do  experience  the  most  plenary  assurance, 
that  both  our  minds  and  judgments,  have  been  guided 
by  the  compass  of  equity;  which  has  directed  us  to  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED*  167 

polar  star  of  truth  and  justice,  in  forming  the  decisions 
of  our  minds,  on  the  case  before  the  bar.     And  as  we 
have  listened,  without  any  partial  bias  to  the  lucid  re- 
marks, and  irrefragable  arguments  of  the  prisoner's 
counsel,  which  it  is  true,  were  at  times  rather  too  pro- 
fusely embellished  with  almost  all  the  trope  and  figure, 
which  the  vocabulary  of  courts  and  the  language  of 
civilians,  is  capable  of  supplying  a  counsel  with,  when 
pleading  at  any  of  our  bars  of  law  and  equity,  that  the 
counsel  for  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  has  so  lucidly  laid 
down,  and  spread  as  in  a  legal  mirror,  before  the  men- 
tal vision  of  this  court,  with  the  most  ingenious  perspi- 
cuity ;  and   at  the  same   time  accompanied  with  his 
usual  acumen,  which  his  forensick  fame  has   already 
obtained  throughout  the  courts  of  civil  jurisprudence, 
of  our  sovereign  kingdom.     And  the  vivid  prospectus, 
the  learned  counsel  for  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  has  pre- 
sented this  court  with,  in  the  four  days  he  has   been 
pleading  his  client's  cause,  during  which  time  he  has 
so  very  successfully,  in  the  consecutive  plan  he  laid 
down,  when  he  first  commenced  his  pleading :  that  is, 
first  the  circumstantial,  the  presumptive,  and  the  posi- 
tive shades  of  his  client's  innocence,  in  the  sad  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.     So 
that  the  mental  faculties  of  this  court  were  highly  en- 
tertained, in  witnessing  the  grace  of  his  oratory,  and 
delighted  with  the  charms  of  his  eloquence. 

It,  therefore,  as  part  of  my  official  duty,  devolves  on 
me  this  day,  to  inform  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, in  conjunction  with  my  learned  colleagues,  with 
whom  I  have  the  legal  honour  of  sitting  this  day  on  the 
bench.  That  we  believe  the  prisoner  at  the  bar — to  wit, 
Caiaphas,  who  was  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  at  the 
time  the  sepulchre  was  reported  to  have  been  robbed 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ — we  therefore  give 
judgment  in  his  favour.  And  that  the  aforesaid  Caia- 
phas, does  this  day  stand,  in  the  eye  of  the  law  of  our 
realm,  and  at  the  impartial  bar  of  this  court,  as  un- 
reprehensible,  and  entirely  innocent  of  the  sad  and  dis- 
tressing loss,  or  elopement,  as  the  case  may  be,  of  the 


168  CHRIST  REJECTEb. 

crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  We 
therefore  give  judgment,  that  he  receive  forthwith,  a 
plenary  acquittal,  and  honourable  discharge.  And  we 
furthermore,  pronounce  him  entirely  free  from  all  blame 
and  suspicion,  of  either  aiding  or  abetting,  in  any 
sense  or  manner  whatsoever,  of  the  sad  and  deleterious 
loss  or  escape  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre. 

The  chief  judge  then  addressed  himself  to  the  jury 
in  the  box,  and  said  :  I  now  move  the  court  and  jury, 
that  the  prisoner,  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
be  forthwith  honourably  discharged,  from  any  farther 
durance  before  the  bar  of  this  or  any  other  court  in  the 
Roman  empire  ;  and  from  all  legal  process  and  distress, 
either  in  his  person,  estate  or  character,  forever. 

When  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and  the  whole  court 
rose,  and  unanimously  concurred  in  the  opinion  and 
judgment  of  the  judges,  without  leaving  the  box.  The 
whole  court  having  honourably  acquitted  Caiaphas,  he 
left  the  court  with  the  laurels  of  ecclesiastical  honour 
and  glory — followed  by  a  plenary  burst  of  applause 
from  the  whole  court. 

The  weather  being  rather  oppressive,  the  chief  judge, 
in  order  to  give  the  court  a  little  relaxation  for  the 
rest  of  the  day,  adjourned  the  court,  to  meet  in  the  same 
place  the  next  day. 

Reader,  thus  endeth  the  trial  of  Caiaphas,  who  was  high 
priest  of  the  Jewish  nation,  at  the  time  the  report  went  out 
into  the  world,  that  the  disciples  stole  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre  ;  and  is  the  corner  stone  and 
cardinal  truth  of  Christianity,  and  in  which  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  is  deeply  involved.  You  had  better  read  it  over 
and  over  again,  till  every  argument  used  by  the  author  be- 
comes your  own.     Amen. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


169 


^3 

^               .j 

i 

llilil k^^^^^^^       ■'  :liH 

™              =j;^                              .i,                    1 

CHAPTER  IX, 

The  ninth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  when  the  judges, 
with  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar  and  other  officers, 
having  taken  their  seats  and  locations  in  this  court — 
and  as  soon  as  the  forensick  formalities  of  the  court 
were  gone  through,  the  States-general  rose  and  took  up 
his  bill  of  indictment — and  casting  his  legal  eye  on  the 
dark  roll,  his  learned  honour  soon  deciphered,  that  on 
the  docket  of  the  court,  as  well  as  in  the  consecutive 
order  of  this  awful  instrument,  which  he  held  in  his 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  high  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

No.  2.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword. 

No.  3.  Truth  weighing  all  the  evidence  that  is  or  shall  be  given  in  at  this 
court. 

No.  4.  The  five  judges  who  had  been  appointed  by  the  king  of  Infidelitf, 
to  try  this  cause. 

No.  5.  The  States-general  opening  the  prosecution. 

No.  6.  The  governor,  Pontius  Pilate,  brought  to  trial. 

No.  7.  Pilate's  counsel  taking  his  notes. 

No.  8.  The  twelve  jurymen  sworn  and  panelled. 


170  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

hand,  were  marked  for  trial  this  day,  the  procurator  of 
the  land  of  Israel,  viz.  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman 
governor  of  Jerusalem  and  Judea,  in  the  days  of  Tibe- 
rius Caesar;  at  the  very  time  the  reported  robbery 
was  said  to  have  been  committed.  When  the  learned 
barrister,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown,  called,  through  the 
medium  of  the  legal  officer  of  the  court,  for  the  gover- 
nor to  be  presented  at  the  bar: — when  the  high 
marshal  of  the  empire,  headed  by  the  high  sheriff  of 
Rome,  led  up  to  the  bar  of  this  court,  Pontius  Pilate. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  crown  barrister  had 
read  over  to  the  court,  all  the  charges  and  allegations 
in  the  indictment  against  the  governor,  and  had  Pilate 
solemnly  affirmed,  that  the  testimony  that  this  court  in 
their  wisdom  should  call  on  him  to  give  in,  at  its  right- 
eous and  impartial  bar,  respecting  this  mysterious 
cause  that  is  now  pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  shall 
be  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  please  your  honour, 
nothing  but  the  truth,  to  the  best  of  your  civil  know- 
ledge, in  the  sight  of  the  gods  who  preside  over  the 
altars  of  civick  justice,  throughout  the  empire. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  Pilate  had  been 
legally  affirmed,  the  learned  barrister,  on  behalf  of 
the  crown,  rose  and  said  unto  the  governor — sir,  your 
excellency  will  now  proceed  by  rising,  and  facing  both 
the  judges  and  jury,  and  distinctly  state  to  this  court, 
all  that  your  honour  knows,  of  a  public  and  official 
character,  respecting  this  clandestine  invasion  of  the 
silent  repose  of  the  dead;  that  is,  please  your  excellency, 
the  sad  loss  of  the  most  valuable  article  of  Cymmerian 
merchandise,  which  you,  sir,  by  the  martial  aid  of  the 
bold  centurion  and  his  valiant  soldiers,  under  the  most 
able  and  auspicious  sureties  the  empire  of  Rome  could 
produce,  had  bound  in  the  old  custom-house  of  death. 

But,  please  your  excellency,  by  dropping  my  mer- 
chantile  allegory,  I  mean  the  nails  of  his  cross,  and  the 
blade  of  the  spear,  with  which  you,  sir,  by  the  advice 
and  prayer  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
had  bound  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  in  the  sepulchre. 

Pilate  then  rose,  and  with  the  manly  dignity  of  a 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  171 

Roman  officer,  made  the  following  statement  of  this 
subdolous  case,  to  the  court  and  jury;  to  wit — All 
that  had  come  officially  under  his  immediate  inspec- 
tion and  legal  knowledge,  respecting  this  mysterious 
and  unhappy  catastrophe,  that  your  honours  the  judges, 
are  pleased  to  call  in  your  legal  language,  the  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ : — But, 
before  I  proceed  with  the  principal  part  of  my  evidence, 
I  shall  pray  the  court,  to  indulge  me  to  make  a  few 
prefatory  remarks,  which  are,  please  your  learned  hon- 
ours— that  when  that  singular  and  mysterious  being, 
who  was  brought  to  my  judgment  bar  as  a  malefactor, 
by  the  irascible  and  jealous  elements  of  his  holiness,  the 
high  priest  of  the  Jews  and  his  people — that  this  said 
Christ,  did  profess  to  belong  to  one  of  the  grades  of 
extra-mundane  beings ;  or,  if  your  honours  and  this 
court  will  indulge  me  with  your  patience,  I  will  sim- 
plify my  phraseology,  and  inform  your  learned  honours, 
that  throughout  that  distressing  trial,  as  Christ  stood 
bound  before  my  judgment  seat,  he  was  every  now  and 
then  throwing  out  some  hints,  that  he  the  said  Christ, 
please  your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  had  a  lord- 
ship and  kingdom  over  a  vast  country,  that  lies  beyond 
the  verge  and  latitude  of  a  time  state ;  and  not  only  so, 
please  the  court,  but  that  he  was  of  that  longevity  of 
nature,  that  he  the  said  Christ,  had  an  existence,  ere 
time  with  men  had  begun  to  show  any  precocious  signs 
of  future  greatness. 

I  hope  the  court  will  benignly  pardon  this  falling  off 
the  usual  mode  of  direct  testimony,  in  my  thus  placing 
the  compound  and  amphibious  natures,  and  other  meta- 
physical qualities  and  characters,  that  this  malefactor 
called  Christ,  gave  of  himself,  while  he  stood  bound  at 
my  judgment  seat  for  trial ;  so  that  I  can  unfeignedly 
inform  this  court,  that  I  did  experience  some  of  the 
most  distressing  sensations  of  mind,  while  in  the  dis- 
charge of  my  legal  functions  on  that  day,  as  very  far 
surpassed  all  other  examinations  of  prisoners,  that  were 
ever  before  brought  by  the  arm  of  the  law,  and  the 
officers  of  justice  to  my  judgment  seat,  for  adjudication. 


172 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


since  Caesar  gave  me  the  office  of  procuratorship  of 
Judea.  But,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges, 
with  the  jury,  I  shall  now  come,  without  being  further 
tedious,  to  the  matters  of  fact. 

Now  may  it  please  this  court,  all  that  came  in  a  legal 
and  official  manner  to  my  knowledge — and  as  for  flying 
reports  and  vague  rumors,  my  conscience,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  polar-star  of  truth,  armed  with  the 
sanction  and  panoply  of  my  solemn  affirmation  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  warns  me  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  It  is  only  official  things  and  obvious  matters  of 
fact,  that  my  sovereign  and  his  laws,  demand  at  my  hand. 
Therefore,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges  and 
jury,  on  the  morning  subsequent  to  what  is  called  the. 
robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
Caiaphas  the  then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  came  to  my 
palace  at  rather  an  early  hour,  and  desired  a  private 
interview  with  me.     And  my  private  secretary  having 


Figure  No.  1.  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  in  the  door  of  his 
palace,  inviting  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  to  come  in. 

No.  2.  Caiaphas  having  alighted  from  his  carriage,  goes  to  the  door,  and 
is  received  by  Pdate. 

No,  3.  The  high  priest's  theological  carriage. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  .  173 

inducted  him  into  the  drawing  room — please  your 
honours,  I  soon  observed  the  alternative  flow  of  hope 
and  fear,  to  rise  and  fall  (as  the  opposing  currents  rush- 
ed on  in  his  thoughtful  mind,)  on  the  telegraph  of  his 
sacred  countenance.  And  on  viewing  his  distress,  may- 
it  please  your  honours,  my  mind  soon  began  to  forecast, 
that  surely  something  of  an  unfelicitous  nature  had 
overtaken  his  holiness.  AVhen  I  signified  to  my  ser- 
vants and  private  secretary  to  retire.  So,  please  your 
honours  the  judges  and  jury,  when  all  but  myself  and 
Caiaphas  were  withdrawn,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
in  quite  a  low  cadence  of  voice,  informed  me  of  a  very 
serious  and  singular  fatality,  that  had  overtaken  the 
Roman  guards,  which  the  centurion  had,  by  my  most 
imperative  orders  to  him,  placed  as  a  military  guard 
over  the  sepulchre,  in  which  the  body  of  Christ,  after 
it  was  crucified,  had  been  securely  placed,  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  Jewish  week  ;  and  which,  please  your  hon- 
ours the  judges  and  jury,  in  order  to  make  all  things 
well  secure,  for  the  permanent  durance  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  in  the  iron-bound  custom-house  of 
death,  forever — and  after  I  had  given  the  most  impe- 
rious orders,  for  a  large  stone  to  be  placed  at  the  mouth 
or  entrance  of  the  sepulchre ; — and  also  went  so  far  in 
my  precautionary  measures,  as  to  command  the  centu- 
rion to  seal  the  stone,  at  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre, 
with  our  sovereign  Tiberius'  great  seal  of  state.  I 
have  just  given  this  court  a  small  epitome  of  my  pre- 
cautionary conduct,  and  now  I  shall  have  the  court  to 
judge  of  the  chagrin  of  my  mind,  at  this  unforeseen 
catastrophe,  of  the  reported  conduct  of  the  recreant 
guards.  But,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges 
and  jury,  to  return  to  the  intelligence  that  Caiaphas 
brought  me  : — -and  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  he  had 
in  some  small  degree  recovered  his  physical  and  men- 
tal faculties,  and  had  become  so  far  convalescent,  as  to 
regain  the  oscillatory  use  of  his  theological  tongue,  his 
holiness  soon  began  to  astound  my  audibility,  with  a 
very  strange  account  of  an  unheard  of  catastrophe, 
that  had  overcast  the  glory  of  the  Roman  arms,  and 

p2 


1T4  •        CHRIST    REJECTED. 

had  in  some  degree  spread  a  sombre  shade  over  the 
military  laurels  of  the  Roman  soldiery,  which  had  never 
before  tarnished  their  military  character.  Caiaphas 
proceeded  to  state,  that  he  had  come  to  inform  me,  of 
the  sad  and  distressing  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre ; — when,  please  your  hon- 
ours, the  high  priest  of  the  Jew's  quivering  lips,  and  the 
once  natural  intonation  of  his  manly  voice,  were  almost 
inaudible,  when  he  whispered  in  my  ear,  that  the 
whole  of  the  Roman  guards,  who  had  been  placed  by 
the  centurion,  in  pursuance  to  my  orders,  as  a  strong 
watch  to  guard  the  sepulchre,  had,  in  consequence  of 
some  foreign  agency,  or  unknown  fatality,  under  a  dark 
cloud  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Athenian  or  other  un- 
known gods,  which  had  caused  each  of  the  royal 
guards  to  fall  simultaneously  to  sleep — and  that  during 
this  sleepy  dispensation,  or  if  your  honours  please,  this 
military  interregnum  of  the  guards  avocation,  the  sub- 
dolous  eleven  disciples  came  and  stole  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

And  may  it  now  please  your  honours  the  judges  and 
jury,  since  it  belongs  not  to  the  providence  of  a  Roman, 
or  any  other  civil  ruler  of  mankind,  to  decide  on  points 
of  theology,  I  shall  not  any  longer  detain  this  court 
with  my  views  on  the  late  deteriorating  cata.strophe, 
that  has  overcast  the  hierarchy  of  the  Jews'  religion, 
and  the  laurels  of  a  part  of  the  Roman  army,  with  a 
degree  of  constuperating  disgrace. 

And,  please  your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  when 
Caiaphas  had  given  his  short  history  of  the  loss  of  the 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  his  holinegs  went 
on  to  deeply  imbue  my  mind  with  his  theological  re- 
flections, on  the  cause,  and  then  the  probable  effects  of 
this  shameful  military  disaster.  And  when  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews  had  ended  his  mournful  communica- 
tion, of  the  distressing  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  that  I  signified  to  him, 
that  I  would  immediately  send  for  the  centurion,  and 
cause  him,  with  his  guards,  to  come  to  my  judgment 
seat,  and  have  them  all  examined ;  and  if  found  guilty 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  175 

of  not  discharging  their  full  share  of  military  duty,  to. 
have  them  all  put  immediately  to  death;  so  that,  plea&e 
your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  in  pursuance  of  the 
well  known  martial  laws,  and  strict  discipline  of  the 
Roman  army*  and  may  it  please  this  court,  as  I  had  at 
the  time  when  the  sepulchre  was  reported  to  have  been 
robbed  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  the  most  plenary 
power,  over  all  the  civil  and  military  officers,  and  ser- 
vants of  my  master's  government,  both  in  the  land  of 
Judea  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem ; — when  I  informed 
his  holiness,  that  I  would  not  only  send  for  the  centu- 
rion, but  have  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  its  vicinity, 
with  all  the  adjacent  country,  for  at  least  twenty  miles 
round,  strictly  searched;  in  order,  that  if  his  eleven 
recreant  and  knavish  disciples,  with  the  crucified  body 
of  their  master,  were  in  this  mundane  dispensation,  or 
if  your  honours  please,  in  the  land  of  the  living,  I  would 
have  them  all  brought  forth,  before  the  great  orb  of 
light  should  have  withdrawn  his  refulgent  glory,  and 
sink  his  coruscations,  beneath  the  western  horizon  of 
that  day. 

But,  may  it  please  this  court,  I  have  the  painful  duty 
to  inform  you,  that  my  pious  coadjutor,  [that  is,  as  he 
professed  to  be,]  in  the  examination,  the  condemnation, 
and  crucifixion,  and  bounding  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  in  the  sepulchre — that  his  holiness,  in  pious 
imitation  of  his  old  friend  Hushai,  the  archite,  the  friend 
of  king  David — that  Caiaphas  said  to  me,  as  Hushai 
said  to  Absalom,  of  the  council  of  Ahithophel,  Your 
advice,  sir,  at  this  time,  is  not  good ;  for  this  obvious 
reason :  When  his  holiness  reminded  me  of  the  felici- 
tous phenomena,  that  was  seen  over  the  cit;/  of  Jerusa- 
lem, on  the  day  that  Christ  was  crucified ; — which 
were,  please  your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  that 
Herod  and  myself,  who  had  been  for  some  previous 
time  dwelling  under  a  nebulous  canopy  of  jealousy,  and 
the  pugnacious  squoWs  of  the  green-eyed  monster,  which 
had,  for  a  long  season  been  rushing  through  each  others 
minds;  but  since  the  death  of  Christ,  the  calm  elements 
of  peace  has  pervaded  our  reconciled  souls,  and  pro- 


176  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

duced  a  re-action  on  the  fell  monster,  called  envy;  and 
as  long  as  this  leviathan  lies  coiled  away  in  the  calm 
sea  of  our  reconciled  hearts,  his  holiness,  in  the  usual 
suavity  of  his  peaceful  and  sanctified  style,  observed  to 
me,  that  at  this  juncture  of  time,  it  would  be  extrava- 
gantly unadvisable,  to  have  either  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
or  the  land  of  Judea  searched,  for  either  the  disciples, 
or  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  least,  by  pursuing  so 
incautious  a  measure,  you  might  awake  the  old  family's 
lewidithdiW  jealousy ,  that  for  the  time  being  is  fast  asleep, 
in  the  calm  waters  of  Herod's  heart.  When  Caiaphas 
further  said,  please  your  honours — for,  sir,  your  excel- 
lency, I  am  fully  persuaded,  must  be  well  a\vare  of  the 
jealous  disposition  and  irascible  spirit  of  the  whole  of 
Herod's  family;  the  which  has  deeply  imbued  his 
whole  court,  with  the  nebulous  shades  of  jealousy  :  and 
how  little  a  thing,  or  slight  an  occurrence  either  physi- 
cally, civilly  or  morally,  it  requires  to  awake  the 
green-eyed  monster,  that  is  now  dozing  under  the  peace- 
ful canopy  of  personal  reconciliation.  So  that  your 
excellency,  no  doubt,  will  see  with  me,  how  small  a 
matter  might  have  undulated  the  whole  sea  over  which 
Herod  holds  a  jurisdiction,  as  Tetrachof  Galilee,  under 
our  sovereign  Tiberius  Caesar. 

And  said  Caiaphas  to  me,  (please  this  court,)  Your 
excellency  must  be  well  aware,  that  the  most  remote 
idea  of  Christ  finding  his  way  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and 
setting  up  a  new  kingdom  for  himself,  would  arouse 
him  to  action.  It  will  then,  please  your  excellency,  be 
our  best  policy,  to  keep  hid  from  Herod^and  not  only 
so,  but  if  possible,  from  all  mankind — but  especially  in 
the  case  of  this  prince  ;  as  it  might  so  excite  his  natural 
jealousy,  with  his  progenitor  called  Herod  the  great, 
who  no  doubt  your  excellency  remembers,  if  not  from 
personal  knowledge,  yet  by  reading,  that  at  the  birth 
of  Christ,  he  caused  the  city  of  Bethelem  and  the  adja- 
cent country,  to  flow  with  the  blood  of  the  innocent 
babes ;  the  which,  sir,  I  make  no  doubt,  but  this  young 
sion  from  the  old  irascible  and  jealous  stock,  will  follow 
close  in  the  wake  of  his  old  grand  sire,  were  we  to  have, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  ITt 

please  your  excellency,  the  centurion  and  the  guards 
brought  up  to  your  judgment  seat,  to  be  examined,  and 
Jerusalem  and  the  adjacent  country  searched,  either 
for  the  disciples,  or  the  lost  body  of  Christ.  For  if  that 
sleepy  leviathan,  jealousy,  should  be  wakened  up  from 
off  her  downy  chamber,  on  his  now  reconciled  heart, 
the  fell  monster  might  lash  the  sea  of  Galilee  with  the 
ire  of  his  wrathful  tail ;  so  that  he  would  be  very 
likely  to  crimson  the  land  of  Judea,  and  drench  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem  with  the  blood  of  the  slain :  when 
your  excellency  and  myself,  I  am  fully  persuaded, 
would  swell  the  catalogue  of  human  wo. 

But  it  is  superfluous  for  me  to  tax  the  good  sense  of 
your  excellency,  who  can  better  decipher,  than  my 
words  can  paint,  the  deleterious  images,  on  the  tele- 
graph of  distress  and  misfortune,  in  order  to  place  the 
same  before  the  mirror  of  your  well  informed  mind,  than 
the  best  language  of  mine  can  possibly  portray  them. 

And  with  many  other  words  did  Caiaphas,  the  then 
high  priest  of  the  Jews  relate,  and  with  his  long  roll 
spread  on  the  bureau  of  my  drawing-room,  written 
within  and  without,  in  ciphers  of  lamentation  mourn- 
ing and  wo. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges, 
and  jury  of  this  court  of  impartial  law  and  inquest,  it 
was  for  peace  sake,  and  to  spare  the  unnecessary 
effusion  of  human  blood,  that  my  Roman  sensibilities,  as 
it  were,  involuntarily  led  me,  as  the  governor  of  Judea,  to 
flow  into  the  wake  of  the  pious  views  and  humane  sen- 
timents of  Caiaphas;  so  that  my  judgment  perceived  it 
best  to  adopt  his  benevolent  council ;  and  of  course,  I 
gave  up  the  idea  of  having  the  matter  legally  investi- 
gated. So  that,  please  this  court,  the  whole  of  the  re- 
ported robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ,  has  passed  away,  like  a  morning  cloud  in  the 
heat  of  a  summer's  day,  entirely,  please  your  honours, 
from  under  my  jurisdiction. 

And  this  court,  I  hope,  will  see,  that  in  the  business, 
both  civil  and  military,  as  it  relates  to  the  loss  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  after  it  was  crucified,  I  have  acted  on 


178  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  broad  scale  of  humanity,  and  the  philanthropic 
principles  of  peace  and  safety — both  to  Caesar's  interest, 
my  personal  security,  and  that  of  my  holy  coadjutor, 
(who  voluntarily  became  my  pious  almoner,)  and  to  the 
nation  of  the  Jews  in  general,  over  which  I  held  a 
Roman  jurisdiction. 

Now,  that  is,  please  your  honours,  the  judges  and 
jury  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  all  that  I 
officially  and  legally  know,  of  the  loss  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre.  When  his  excel- 
lency, Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor  sat  down. 

Christian  friends,  the  author  is  satisfied  in  his  own  mind, 
that  he  is  fully  justified  in  the  sight  of  God  and  men,  in  thus 
placing  Pilate's  evidence  before  this  court,  in  the  ideas  and 
language  which  he  has  made  choice  of.  Causing  Pilate  to  in- 
form the  court,  what  Caiaphas  communicated  to  him,  when 
the  body  of  Christ  was  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre,  from 
this  scripture  in  Matthew's  gospel ;  "  and  if  this  comes  to  the 
governor's  ears,  we  will  persuade  him,  and  secure  you."  See 
Matthew's  gospel,  chapter  28,  14. 


And  when  the  governor  had  concluded  his  evidence, 
the  chief  judge  adjourned  the  court,  to  meet  in  the 
same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  179 

CHAPTER  X. 

i 

The  tenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre, 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  The  -plea  of  the  States-' 
general,  against  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest met  pursuant  to  adjournment.  And  when  the 
legal  ceremonies  of  this  court  were  all  gone  through,  the 
learned  barrister,  on  the  side  of  the  crov^n,  rose  and 
occupied  the  floor,  in  addressing  the  bar  of  this  court, 
about  half  a  day. 

The  stenographer  will  only  give  the  reader  an  epito- 
mized view,  of  the  states-attorney's  plea  against  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  the  leading  feature  of  his  argu- 
ments were  nearly  the  same  as  in  Caiaphas'  case;  with 
the  exception  of  person  and  office  ;  the  former  being 
ecclesiastical,  and  the  latter  civil  and  military.  The 
states-general  observed  to  the  court,  that  the  legal 
functions,  both  of  his  duty  and  office,  onerously  led 
him,  in  conjunction  with  his  avowed  fealty  to  his  legi- 
timate sovereign,  to  portray  on  the  telegraph  of  the 
law  of  the  realm,  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner ;  which  at 
times  he  did  with  some  display  of  his  forensick  eloquence, 
and  which  often  drew  a  little  of  the  electrical  fluid 
from  the  clouds  of  mercy; — which,  as  a  Roman  vir- 
tue, spread  itself  for  a  few  moments  over  the  person 
and  judgment  seat  of  Pilate  ;  in  consequence  of  some  of 
the  words  used  by  him,  at  the  time  that  Christ  stood 
bound  as  a  malefactor  at  his  judgment  seat.  When  his 
learned  honour,  the  states-attorney,  made  some  of  the 
most  powerful  efforts,  to  constuperate,  with  the  sable 
shades  of  moral  disease,  the  few  instances  of  the  lenient 
conduct  of  the  Roman  governor  towards  Christ,  while 
his  trial  was  pending  at  Pilate's  judgment  seat — when 
the  crown  barrister's  forensick  remarks,  were  every 
now  and  then  accompanied  with  a  loud  clap  of  his 
vituperating  thunder,  on  the  reprehensible  head  of  the 
Roman  governor.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  zig-zag 
lightning,  from  the  dense  clouds  in  the  vituperating 


180  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

horizon,  accompanied  with  a  roaring  discharge  from 
the  legal  artillery  of  the  crown  lawyer,  on  the  legal 
nudity  of  the  conduct  and  person  of  Pilate,  on  the  day 
of  the  trial  of  Christ,  at  the  prisoner's  judgment  seat. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  this  son  of  the  civick 
muse  had,  through  the  legal  horn  of  his  forensick 
oratory,  disburdened  his  dense  cloud,  of  all  its  vitupe- 
rating waters  ;  and  had,  by  his  oratorial  lightning-rod, 
conducted  to  the  earth  all  the  electrical  fluid,  that  the 
crown  barrister  had  endeavoured  to  draw  from  the 
conduct  and  words  of  Pilate,  throughout  his  proceed- 
ings, during  the  whole  of  the  trial  of  Christ,  on  that 
mournful  and  distressing  day.  But  the  states-general's 
vituperating  oratory,  made  only  a  transient  impression, 
on  the  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  court,  in 
convincing  it,  that  there  was  the  least  shade  of  illegal 
clemency,  shown  by  Pilate  towards  Christ,  in  any  of 
his  words  and  acts,  that  were  of  a  lenient  aspect,  on 
the  day  that  Christ  stood  bound  as  a  malefactor,  at 
Pilate's  judgment  seat,  that  were  repulsive  to  the 
character  of  a  Roman  judge,  to  manifest  towards  any 
prisoner  brought  to  the  tribunal  of  Roman  justice  ;  of 
whom  the  judge,  from  the  discrepancy  of  testimony 
preferred  against  the  defendant  at  the  bar  of  justice, 
might  be  led  to  entertain  doubts  of  the  prisoner's  guilt. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  this  servant  of  the  crown 
had  unburdened  his  pregnant  cloud,  of  the  windy  and 
struggling  foetus — at  the  birth  of  which,  in  this  impar- 
tial court,  it  was  the  states-attorney's  most  sanguine 
hope,  that  he  should  prove,  that  Pilate  was,  either  in 
his  words  or  acts,  on  the  trial  of  Christ,  accessary, 
or  at  least  a  careless  deliquent  in  his  oflicial  duty 
on  that  day. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  learned  counsel 
for  the  crown,  had,  in  his  own  view  of  his  forensick 
talents,  safely  accouched  this  mountain  of  legal  know- 
ledge, in  the  midst  of  this  profound  and  enlightened 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  the  crown  barrister  sat  down, 
leaving  nothing  more  serious  on  the  mind  of  the  judges 
and  jury,  and  all  the  other  legal  elements  of  this  court, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  181 

than  a  young  dormouse,  in  its  playful  manoeuvres,  at 
the  base  of  the  civick  altar  of  the  Magna-Charta  of 
Roman  law.  When  the  chief  judge  rose  and  stated  to 
the  court,  that  he  perceived  by  the  aid  of  his  forensick 
telescope,  that  the  cause  now  pending  at  the  bar,  would 
be  a  long  and  arduous  trial ;  and  in  order  to  give  the 
parties  in  the  suit  a  little  relaxation  from  mental  tur- 
moil, he  should  adjourn  the  court  for  the  remainder  of 
the  day. 


182 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  eleventh  day  of  the  trial  of  the  disciples,  for  the  rob- 
bery of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
The  plea  of  a  Roman  bar7'ister,  in  the  behalf  of  Pontius 
Pilate,  the  governor  of  Judea,  at  the  time  the  body  of 
Christ  was  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, met  in  pursuance  of  adjournment,  on  the  morning 
of  the  eleventh  day  ;  when  the  judges  and  jury,  and  all 
the  gentlemen  of  the  bar  were  at  their  legal  stations, 
and  the  prisoner  seated  in  the  criminal's  box.  The 
court  being  called  to  order  by  the  legal  officer  thereof, 
and  the  usual  comity  gone  through,  the  learned  barris- 
ter, who  had  undertaken  Pilate's  cause  rose,  and  facing 
the  bench  said — May  it  please  your  learned  honours 


Figure  No.  1.  The  chief  and  his  associate  judges,  who  were  appointed  by 
the  Emperor  to  try  this  all  important  case. 

No.  '2    The  Stetes-attorney  taking  his  notes. 

No.  3.  Pilate's  counsel  pleading  hia  eause. 

No.  4.  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  who  condemned  Christ,  fe 
aOMT  himself  in  the  criminal's  box. 

No.  5.  The  twelve  jurymen  sworn  and  panelled,  sitting  in  the  jury  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  183 

the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  im- 
partial court  of  law  and  inquest,  I  do  this  morning  un- 
feignedly   experience  it  to  be  my  duty,  to  advertise 
this  court,  that  it  is  repulsive  to  my  sense  of  the  value 
of  time,  and  the  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  your 
learned  honours — as  well  as  the  justice  T  owe  to  my 
client's  cause,  not  to  detain  this  court  with  a  lengthy 
exhibition  of  my  remarks,  in  order  merely  to  meet  and 
rebut   the  specious   arguments  of  the  states-attorney 
which  he  urged  the  previous  day  on  the  mind  of  this 
court,  with  the  more  than  ordinary  radiance,  of  his 
learned  honour's  forensick   mind  ;    which,  every  now^ 
and  then,  were  accompanied  with  some  vivid  flashes  of 
his  oratorial  lightning,  followed  by  the  distant  rumbling 
of  his  vituperating  thunder;   the  ostensible  object  of 
which  appeared  to  be,  to  move  the  mind  and  passions 
of  this  impartial  court,  into  his  ow  n  professional  views 
of  the  prisoner's  guilt.     Although,  please  your  honours, 
when  we  undress  the  crown  barrister's  mode  of  reason- 
ing of  the  tinsil  of  forensick  figure,  and  the  drapery  of 
well  chosen  and  ingenious  collocation  of  court  vocabu- 
lary, his  honour's  logic,  please  the  court,  when  placed 
on  the  colossus  of   sound  argument  and  irrefragable 
reasoning,  would  appear  to  your  honours,  in  a  state  of 
nudity ;  especially,  please  your  learned  honours,  if  we 
remove  the  barrister's   band  of  musick — that  is,   the 
harmonious   intonations  of  a  fine  voice,   which   please 
your  learned  honours,  so  very  often  charms  our  audi- 
bility, at  the  expense  of  either  the  excursive  or  discur- 
sive powers  of  our  minds,  clearly  seeing  the  imbecility 
and  illegibility  of  the  arguments. 

A  NOTE. 

Oh  !  how  many  good  causes  are  lost,  and  bad  ones  gained, 
for  want  of  due  attention  to  these  things !  That  when  I  view 
all  the  arguments  the  states-attorney  has  presented  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  against  Pilate,  in  their  state  of  nudity, 
standing  on  the  pedestal  of  the  Magna-Charta  of  Roman  law, 
they  appear,  in  my  view,  as  cadaverous  and  meagre,  as 
Milton's  "  Death  and  Sin.'' 


184  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

And  may  it  [please  your  learned  honours,  the 
judges  and  jury,  the  legal  ground,  or  rather  sandy 
arena,  on  which  the  crown  barrister  based  his  argu- 
ments, to  prove  Pilate's  guilt  in  the  delinquency  of  his 
duty,  in  not  retaining  the  crucified  body  in  safe  durance, 
in  the  sepulchre  forever,  was  a  mere  shifting  sand  bank, 
continually,  by  the  current  of  the  muddy  waters  of 
assumption,  altering  its  position.  But,  please  this  court, 
we  are  in  some  sense  in  duty  bound,  as  belonging  to  the 
same  profession,  and  myself  being  a  small  limb  of  the 
law,  to  exercise  charity  towards  the  crow  n  barrister, 
and  so  draw  this  corollary  in  his  favour; — to  wit: 
that  his  learned  honour  does,  in  his  legal  conscience, 
believe  it  to  be  his  official  duty  to  confirm  the  bill,  which 
the  grand  jury  found  against  Pilate,  at  the  bar  of  this 
court. 

His  learned  honour's  great  anxiety,  to  establish  the 
governor's  guilt,  no  doubt,  arises  out  of  the  fealty  he 
owes  to  his  sovereign,  and  his  oath  of  fidelity,  to  legally 
and  assiduously  maintain  the  righteous  sanction  of  the 
laws  of  the  realm.  These  views  of  his  professional 
duty,  please  your  honours,  led  the  states-attorney  to 
pour  out  of  his  thundering  clouds,  densely  charged  with 
his  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the  law,  a  small  vituper- 
ating blast,  on  the  head  of  every  prisoner,  brought  by 
the  arm  of  the  law  or  its  officers  of  justice,  to  the  bar 
of  this  or  any  other  court,  which  his  official  duties  leads 
him  to  attend. 

Therefore,  I  shall  proceed,  by  the  indulgence  of  your 
learned  honours,  and  the  judges  and  jury,  to  bring  a 
few  matters  of  fact  before  the  court,  which  will  conse- 
cutively arise  out  of  the  words  and  acts  of  the  Roman 
governor,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  when  that  very 
mysterious  and  singular  cause  was  pending  at  my 
client's  judgment  seat  for  trial.  I  shall  therefore  con- 
sider it,  please  this  court,  as  gratuitously  granted,  by 
their  honours  the  judges,  that  the  precursory  elements 
of  your  law  knowledge,  has  already  led  you  to  forecast 
in  your  minds,  and  ask  me  in  some  such  language  as 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  185 

this ; — Pray,  sir,  What  part  of  the  prisoner's  conduct 
do  you  allude  to,  that  so  entirely  disperses  all  the  dark 
clouds,  and  inauspicious  shades  of  delinquency,  from  off 
the  words  and  acts  of  Pontius  Pilate,  in  the  condemna- 
tion of  Christ  at  his  judgment  seat?  I  shall  now,  may 
it  please  your  honours,  very  obsequiously  proceed  to 
satisf}^  your  legal  anticipations  on  this  point,  and  which 
I  shall  endeavour  to  do,  please  the  court,  without  fol- 
lowing so  close  in  the  wake  of  his  learned  honour,  on 
the  side  of  the  crown  ;  as  I  experience  a  very  serious 
predilection  at  this  time,  not  to  bruise  my  forensick 
shin.<i,  over  the  classical  wheels  of  his  law  eloquence,  in 
aping  the  melodious  intonations  of  his  flexible  voice,  and 
the  finer  touches  of  the  crown  barrister's  forensick  pencil ! 
I  shall  now  place  a  few  simple  and  plain  facts,  in 
the  view  of  the  court,  which  I  humbly  presume  will  be 
viewed  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  and  at  the  bar  of  this 
wise  and  intelligent  court,  of  sufficient  weight  and 
notoriety,  to  prov^e  the  entire  justification  of  Pontius 
Pilate,  my  client's  innocency,  of  the  distressing  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  And 
in  order  to  convince  this  court  of  the  innocency  of  my 
client,  I  shall  ask  it  one  question :  Did  not  Pilate  most 
graciously  grant  unto  Caiaphas,  without  any  kind  of 
hesitancy  whatever — yea,  please  your  learned  honours, 
Pilate  did  grant,  with  a  ready  mind,  and  it  is  said,  the 
holy  ones  "  rewards  a  cheerful  giver,"  more  than  the 
prayer  of  Caiaphas  asked  ;  even,  all  the  phj^sical,  civil 
and  military  aid,  both  in  persons  and  things,  which 
either  the  letter  or  spirit  of  his  prayer  called  for.  Yes, 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and 
jury — when  Pilate  said  to  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
Go  your  way,  and  take  with  you,  by  my  special  and 
imperative  orders,  one  of  the  Roman  officers,  who  has 
the  charge  of  the  temple ;  and  with  him  a  sufficient 
number  of  his  brave  soldiers,  as  you  and  the  centurion 
shall  judge  expedient  to  guard  the  sepulchre,  against 
all  the  subdolous  foes  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  And' 
also,  I  ^ive  orders,  in  case  of  surprise  or  any  sudden 

q2 


186  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

emergency  whatsoever,  or  any  contingency  that  might 
depreciate  the  security  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
in  safe  durance  in  the  sepulchre  forever — take  my 
orders  to  the  centurion ;  and  that  he  come  to  me  for 
my  master's  great  seal  of  state — and  seal  the  stone  at 
the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre— and  set  the  watch  over 
the  sepulchre,  according  to  the  strictest  rules  of  the 
military  discipline,  and  the  long  established  martial  law 
of  the  Roman  army. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges  and  jury,  to  indulge  me  to  ask  the  court  one 
plain  and  simple  question,  and  that  is :  Whether  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  Pontius  Pilate,  did  or  did  not  do 
his  plenary  share  of  duty,  on  that  alarming  occasion? 
or  whether  our  knowing  ones,  of  the  age  of  boasted 
Reason,  and  pompous  Philosophy;  or,  if  the  reader 
please,  one  of  the  Atheists,  Deists,  or  Jews  of  modern 
times,  with  all  the  acquisitions,  which  the  so  much 
boasted  auxiliaries  of  modern  times,  of  science  and 
natural  philosophy,  under  the  canopy  of  human  reason; 
armed  with  the  panoply  of  the  carnal  mind,  had  been 
in  Pilate's  place  and  office,  he  or  they,  as  the  case  may 
have  been,  would  or  could  have  acted  with  more  pru- 
dence, or  have  managed  the  safe  keeping  of  the  body 
of  Christ,  with  more  wisdom,  judgment,  legal  skill, 
and  personal  adroitness,  than  Pilate  manifested  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment  ? 

I  shall,  please  your  honours,-  just  glance  at  a  few  of 
those  impugning  flashes  of  the  states-attorney's  orato- 
rial  lightning,  on  the  head  of  Pilate,  in  consequence  of 
his  wishing  to  have  Christ  pardoned  and  released,  on 
the  day  of  his  trial.  Now,  it  is  well  known,  please 
your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  that  although  my 
client,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  manifested  at  the  trial 
of  Christ,  some  of  the  most  pungent  signs  of  the  deep 
commiserating  sensibility  of  a  Roman  officer,  arising 
out  of  a  noble  mind,  embellished  with  all  the  graces 
of  civick  virtue  and  national  philanthrophy,  which 
during  the  whole   of  the   time  of  that   singular  and 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  18 J 

mysterious  being,  in  human  form,  called  Christ,  was 
arraigned  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Pilate. 

And  as  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  sat  on  his  bench, 
viewing  the  irascible  spirit  of  the  whole  nation  of  the 
Jews,  with  the  false  and  unrighteous  allegations  and 
groundless  specifications,  that  Caiaphas,  the  well  known 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  did,  on  the  day  of  the  trial  of 
Christ,  before  the  judgment  seat  of  my  client,  so  very 
onerously  and  vehemently  prefer  against  him.  So  that, 
please  this  court,  Pontius  Pilate  my  client,  very  clearly 
saw,  that  the  Jews  with  Caiaphas  at  their  head,  had 
in  consequence  of  some  mysterious  design,  constituted 
themselves  as  the  sworn  enemies  of  Christ ;  although, 
may  it  please  your  honours,  they  could  not  legally  prove 
one  solitary  charge,  nor  single  allegation  against  him 
to  be  true.  And  that  during  the  whole  of  this  distress- 
ing and  singular  trial,  and  dark  and  mysterious  catas- 
trophe— that  is,  please  this  court,  the  arrest  and  con- 
demnation of  Christ  at  Pilate's  bar  ; — and  I  can  now 
truly  inform  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  the  governor,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar  of  this  court  of  law"  and  inquest,  has  this 
day  authorized  me  to  communicate  to  this  court,  that 
on  the  day  of  the  trial  of  Christ  at  his  judgment  seat, 
had  his  own  philanthrophic  sensibilities  raised  to  their 
more  than  natural  acme,  by  the  dolorous  congress  of  the 
finer  and  more  delicate  sensibilities  of  his  consort,  while 
he  sat  on  the  judgment  seat,  in  a  short  but  dolorous 
message  she  sent  him ;  in  w  hich  his  lady  very  onerously 
and  affectionately  prayed  her  beloved  consort,  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  that  just,  righteous  and  mystenous 
being  in  human  form,  called  Christ. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours — if  w^e  can 
put  the  least  affiance  in  her  message,  and,  I  know  of 
no  sound  argument,  why  a  lady's  testimony  should  be 
thrown  aside,  at  the  bar  of  this  impartial  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  then  the  governor's  lady  had,  according 
to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  her  epistle,  please  the  courf, 
experienced  many  a  painful  exercise  that  day,  in  the 
finer  sensibilities  of  her  distressed  mind,  concerning  the 


188  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

prisoner  at  the  judgment  seat  of  her  beloved  husband. 
Therefore,  these  things,  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges  and  jury,  of  this  impartial  court,  being  so,  that 
this  was  at  least  one  of  the  physical  and  mental  causes 
of  raising  the  altitude  of  my  client,  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar's  personal  convictions,  in  the  behalf  of  the  inno- 
cency  of  Christ. 

The  court  may,  in  its  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
look  upon  it  as  possessing  no  relevancy  on  my  part,  to 
place  a  lady's  testimony  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of 
chancery  ;  but,  the  judges  of  this  court  well  know,  that 
we  cannot  well  get  along  in  our  courts  of  justice  and 
jurisprudence,  without  the  admission  (and  that  too,  in 
the  most  solemn  and  serious  cases,  even  that  of  life  and 
death.)  of  female  testimony. 

Now,  these  things,  please  your  honours,  I  have  placed 
before  the  bar  of  this  court,  as  the  public  and  notorious 
words  and  acts  of  Pilate,  on  the  day  of  Christ's  trial  ; 
in  order  to  show  this  court,  that  the  philanthropic  mind 
of  Pilate,  did  unfeignedly  manifest  his  personal  disap- 
probation a,nd  abhorrence  of  the  pugnacity  of  the  Jew\s, 
in  their  demanding  the  life  and  blood  of  Christ,  in  the 
execution  of  his  person  on  a  Roman  cross.  And  please 
this  court,  in  order  that  my  client  might  make  it  the 
more  notoriously  manifest,  that  the  asperity  and  male- 
volence of  both  Caiaphas  and  the  Jews,  in  wishing  the 
death  of  Christ,  were  both  repulsive  and  abhorrent  to 
Pilate's  views  and  sentiments  of  the  innocency  of  Christ  ; 
Pilate,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  spectators  before  his 
judgment  seat,  took  w  ater  and  washed  his  hands — ex- 
claiming in  a  dolorous  voice,  /  am  clear  of  the  blood  of 
this  righteous  inoffensive  man  : — see  ye  to  it  yourselves, 
ye  cruel  and  hard  hearted  .!ew^s.  But,  when  Pilate  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  saw  the  irascible  spirit  of  Caiaphas 
and  the  Jew  ish  nation,  against  Christ,  as  he  stood  bound 
as  a  prisoner  at  his  judgment  seat,  he  gave  sentence 
against  him. 

Now,  please  your  learned  honours,  was  it  not  very 
natural  for  Pilate  to  have  forecast  in  his  own  mind, 
from  the  acme  of  their  malevolence,  so  notoriously  and 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  189 

vtghemently  made  manifest  on  that  mysterious  trial — 
which,  please  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  any  person  of 
common  sense  may  gather  from  the  plain  mathematical 
construction  of  the  language  used  by  his  holiness,  Caia- 
phas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  on  that  occasion, 
while  the  cause  of  Christ  was  pending  at  the  bar  of 
Pilate.  Does  the  court  w^ish  to  hear  them  in  their 
native  dress  ?  Then,  please  your  honours  the  judges 
with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  they  are  as  follows: 
When  Caiaphas  exclaimed.  Is  your  Roman  excellency 
conscientiously  tenacious — or  does  a  civil  officer  of  the 
Roman  government  suffer  his  noble  mind  to  indulge  any 
delicate  scruples,  in  the  full  discharge  of  the  regal  duty 
he  owes  the  laws  of  his  sovereign,  in  pronouncing  the 
condign  punishment  of  the  Roman  laws,  to  be  by  the 
officers  of  justice,  duly  inflicted  on  the  notorious  male- 
factor, Christ ;  whom  we  now  accuse  as  the  violator  of 
all  laws,  both  human  and  divine,  and  his  contumacy 
against  the  doctrines  of  men.  Therefore,  may  it  please 
your  excellency,  in  order  to  relieve  your  philanthropic 
sensibilities,  of  the  difficulty  your  mind  labours  under, 
in  your  inflicting  the  full  weight  of  the  condign  punish- 
ment of  your  laws,  on  the  malefactor,  Christ,  who  we 
have  brought  to  your  judgment  seat — We,  sir,  take  the 
whole  onerous  responsibility  on  ourselves  and  nation, 
by  saying,  let  his  blood  be  and  remain  on  us,  and  on 
the  fruits  of  the  congress  of  our  conjugal  affections,  for- 
ever. When  Caiaphas  added,  "  if  thou  let  this  man 
go,"  although  thou  art  a  Roman  governor,  yet  "  thou  art 
not  Caesar's  friend." 

When,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  my  client  Pontius  Pilate, 
was,  as  it  were,  led  from  this  onerous  judicial  requisi- 
tion, made  by  Caiaphas  on  the  official  duties  of  the 
Roman  governor,  contrary  to  his  wishes  ;  being,  at  the 
time,  well  acquainted  with  the  articles  of  the  covenant 
or  treaty,  entered  into  between  the  humble  nation  of 
the  Jews,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  gallant,  and  for  the 
time  being,  victorious  empire  of  the  Romans  on  the 
other  part ; — which  please  this  court,  had  been  reci- 


190  CHllIST  REJECTED. 

procally   interchanged,    between    the   Jews   and  the 
Romans. 

Now^  please  this  court,  that  one  of  those  articles  in 
this  covenant  was,  that  the  Romans  shall  deliver  up  to 
the  will,  and  the  theological    caprice   of  the   Jewish 
hierarchy  at  their  annual  festival,  in  commemoration  of 
the  redemption  of  the  Hebrews  from  their  long  Egyp- 
tian bondage,  some  solitary  prisoner,  who   had  been 
condemned  to  die  by  the  civil  laws  of  the  Romans,  who, 
at  that  time,  had  entirely  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Jewish    people,    all    judicatory    power :    so    that    the 
Hebrews  were  so  degraded  as  a  nation,  that  in  the  days 
of  Tiberius  and  Pilate,    they  stood  before  the  world 
in   the    most    pitiable    and    nullified    state :  and    were 
sensible,  that  their   masters,  the  Romans,   would  not 
sufier  the  Jews  to  exercise  the  least  jurisprudence  over 
a  solitary  criminal's  case,  in  the  least  district   in  the 
land  of  Israel.     Therefore,   please  your   honours    the 
judges  and  jury,  it  was  in  consequence  of  this  degrading 
article,  in  the  covenant,  or  rather  imperious  conditions 
of  peace,    which   the  plenary  power  of  the  Romans, 
who  at  that  juncture  of  time  were  the  prostrators  of 
almost  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  had  so  oner- 
ously imposed  on  the  Jews,  and  which  gave  to  Caiaphas, 
the  then  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  the  legal  right  to  demand 
from  the  hand  of  tlie  Roman  governor,  a  noted  male- 
factor by  the  name  of  Barahhas]  who   had   been  con- 
victed of  sedition  and  murder ;  which  he  the  said  Bar- 
abbas  had  committed  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  So  that, 
please    your   honours,    it    would  be  rather  irrelevant, 
as  well  as  repulsive  to  the  wisdom  of  this  high  court 
of  law    and    inquest,   for   me    to    tax    the    time,    and 
exhaust  the  patience  of  your  honours  for  one  moment, 
in  supposing  that  this  court  does  not  clearly  see,  that 
my  client,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  Pontius  Pilate,  was 
according  to  the  aforesaid  stipulation  of  the  treaty  with 
the  Jews,  imperiously  coerced  to  deliver  up  that  mys- 
terious being  that  was  called  Christ,  to  be  crucified  ; 
and  at  the  same  time,  set  the  seditious  murderer,  Bar- 
abbas,  free. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  191 

Now,  I  would  humbly  and  obsequiously  inquire  of 
this  court,  if  in  its  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge,  it  can 
for  one  moment  censure,  or  in  the  least  degree  impugn 
the  few  drops  of  forensick  clemency,  which  Pilate  mani- 
fested as  a  Roman  judge,  on  this  singular  occasion,  to- 
w^ards  that  mysterious  prisoner,  who  stood  bound  at  the 
judgment  seat.  Therefore,  from  the  delicate  and  peculiar 
situation  in  w^hich  Pontius  Pilate,  my  client,  was  placed, 
I  shall  please  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  impar- 
tial jury  in  the  box  before  me,  humbly  ask  your  hon- 
ours and  the  court's  indulgence,  while  I  shall  proceed 
with  all  due  deference  to  its  legal  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge, and  the  long  forensick  experience  of  this  court, 
to  express  my  legal  views,  merely  to  assist  the  natural 
elements  of  common  sense,  and  say,  that  when  the  mind 
of  Pilate  the  governor,  became  thus  undulated  by  the 
pugnacious  spirit  of  Caiaphas,  and  his  priests  on  the 
one  part,  and  the  notorious  asperity  and  effervescence, 
that  he  saw  diffusing  itself  through  the  multifarious 
throng  of  the  Jewish  people,  which  the  recreant  fears 
of  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  had  already  inflamed  the 
mind  of  the  common  people  with  ;  to  call  for  the  sedi- 
tious murderer  Barabbas  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  crucify 
Christ. 

And  if  it  is  not  irrelevant,  and  I  am  fully  persuaded 
in  my  mind,  it  is  not,  I  shall  place  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  again,  a  small  circumstance,  which  I  have  already 
glanced  at,  please  the  court ;  viz  :  while  Christ  stood 
bound  as  a  malefactor,  at  Pilate's  bar,  and  as  I  have 
once  said,  and  I  wish  to  place  lady  Pilate's  tragical 
part,  before  the  court  once  more,  please  your  honours, 
that  the  fair  consort  of  the  governor  who  is  now  held 
in  durance  as  a  prisoner,  at  the  bar  of  this  court — that 
is,  that  Pilate's  lady,  sent  him  a  short  epistle,  in  which 
she  most  onerously  prays  the  object  of  her  conjugal 
affections,  to  beware  of  staining  his  legal  hands  in  the 
blood  of  that  righteous  and  innocent  man,  who  was 
called  Christ ;  assigning  as  the  most  cogent  reason,  for 
her  a  little  stepping  over  the  line  of  demarcation  of  the 
*  province  of  a  lady,  that  her  usual  hours  of  repose  had 


1 92  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

been  much  interrupted,   and  the  purlieu  of  her  mind, 
unceremoniously  invaded,  by  the  most  alarming  pres- 
entations of  the  mysterious   nature  and  character  of 
Christ : — so  that,  I  shall  again  ask  the  court,  whether 
my  client,  under  all  those  collateral  and  dolorous  cir- 
cumstances before  his  mind — to  wit :  the  innocency  of 
Christ,  which  was  strongly  depictured  in  the  placid 
expression  of  Christ's  countenance,  as  he  stood  bound 
at  his  judgment  seat ;  and  while  the  prayerful  letter  of 
his  conjugal  affections  was  lying  on  the  bureau  at  his 
right  hand — I  shall  tax  your  learned  honour's  patience 
and  ask  this  court,   (and  I  hope  my  boldness  will  not 
produce  a  repulsive  sensation,  at  my  mode  and  manner 
of  reasoning,  in  placing  the  innocency  of  Pilate's  con- 
duct at  the  bar  of  this  court) — I  shall  therefore,  be- 
lieving it  to  be  relevant,   humbly  ask   this   impartial 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  if,  please  your  learned  honours, 
as  I  highly  appreciate  all  the  legal  elements  of  this 
famed  court  of  chancery,  to  be  men  of  wisdom   and 
knowledge,  of  the  whole  arcanum  of  human  nature,  or 
in  other  words,  to  have  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  the 
character  of  mankind  : — therefore,  1  ask,  if  this  or  any 
other  court  of  Roman  jurisprudence,  would  be  led  to 
pour  out  the  thundering  vials  of  iis  vituperation,  on  the 
person  and  character  of  any  judge,  who  presided  over 
the  courts  of  Roman  law,  merely,  please  your  honours, 
because  he  manifested  a  few  lenient  sensations  towards 
some  solitary  prisoner  at  his  bar ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
exhibited  some  small  symptoms  of  the  perturbation  of 
his  philanthropic  mind,  in  Pilate,  my  client :  being  on 
this  occasion,  so   onerously  led   by  the  clamours   of 
Caiaphas,  and  the  people  of  Jerusalem,  to  pass  the  con- 
dign sentence  of  the  law,  on  one  whom  he,  as  a  Roman 
judge,  viewed  as  innocent;  so  that  I  can  with  conscien- 
tious  rectitude   aver,   for   my   client's   integrity   and 
Roman  honour,  on  that  distressing  dispensation,  as  it 
passed  over  the  legal  horizon  of  my  client's  mind,  and 
inform  this  court,  that  it  was  a  thousand  times  more 
likely  to  flow  in  full  accordance  with  the  dolorous  sen- 
timents of  one  Job  I  have  read  of,  in  some  of  the  old 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  193 

writers ;  of  whom  it  is  said,  that  when  that  afflicted 
sage  was  labouring  under  the  most  intense  pains,  he 
exclaimed :  "  For  there  is  hope  of  a  tree,  if  it  be  cut 
down,  that  it  will  sprout  again ;  and  that  the  tender 
branch  thereof  will  not  cease,  though  the  root  thereof 
wax  old  in  the  earth,  and  the  stalk  thereof  die  in  the 
ground  ;  yet,  through  the  scent  of  water  it  will  bud, 
and  bring  forth  boughs  like  a  plant.  But  man  dieth, 
and  wasteth  away ;  yea,  man  giveth  up  the  ghost  and 
where  is  he?" 

But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  I  once 
more  humbly  ask  the  patience  of  this  court  and  jury 
to  bear  with  me  ; — and  although  I  am  a  lawyer  by 
profession — and  your  learned  honours  well  know  with 
me,  as  one  of  the  lawyers  has  said  at  this  bar  before, 
that  a  very  few  of  our  learned  and  forensick  pro- 
fession, believe  that  there  is  one  word  of  truth  in  that 
conscience  troubling  volume,  called  the  Bible  :  yet,  may 
it  please  the  judges  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  we 
must  candidly  acknowledge,  that  some  of  its  civil  doc- 
trines, moral  precepts,  as  well  as  its  lofty  style,  figura- 
tive ideas,  and  highly  embellished  language,  every  now 
and  then  help  us  lawyers  out  with  a  dead  lift,  in  our 
courts  of  civil  and  common  law;  so  that  we  can  some- 
times illustrate,  and  not  a  little  embellish  our  pleadings, 
with  its  sublime  sentiments. 

However,  at  the  first  view  of  my  temerity,  it  may 
appear  to  your  honours  somewhat  reprehensible,  and 
not  a  little  repulsive  to  the  forensick  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge of  this  high  court  of  chancery,  to  be  troubling 
your  learned  honours  with  the  doctrines  and  sentiments 
of  that  gloomy  and  conscience  disturbing  volume ; — 
but  since  I  have  gratuitously  introduced  this  strange 
and  mysterious  book  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  I  shall 
make  one  small  levy  more,  on  its  sententious  language, 
and  say,  please  your  learned  honours,  that  the  expe- 
rience of  my  client,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  Pontius 
Pilate,  after  the  crucifixion  and  safe  interment  of  the 
body  of  Christ  in  the  sepulchre,  that  had  been  recently 
excavated  out  of  a  solid  rock,  that  the  views  of  Pilate's 


194  CHRIST    REJECTEIX. 

mind,  with  the  pungent  sensations  of  his  heart,  were  a 
thousand  times  more  likely  to  involuntarily  flow  with 
mournful  consonance,  into  the  wake  of  [as  the  Jewish 
writers  inform  us,]  what  they  call  their  royal  saint ; 
that  is,  king  David ;  so  that  my  client's  mind  and  sor- 
rowful tongue,  would  have  struck  the  lyre  of  David's 
harp,  and  sung  with  him  this  solemn  dirge,  which  the 
royal  saint,  as  the  Jew's  call  him,  sang  at  the  death  of  the 
first  child  he  had  by  the  beautiful  mother  of  Solomon  : 
I  shall  go  said  my  client,  Pontius  Pilate,  in  a  soliloquy 
to  the  goddess  of  the  nebulous  empire  of  death,  which 
to  this  day  has  always  remained  under  the  iron-bound 
administration  of  her  consort,  the  king  of  terrors;  over 
which  dreary  country,  nothing  but  dense  clouds  and 
misty  fogs  forever  dwell. 

No,  may  it  please  this  court,  neither  had  my  client, 
at  the  time  of  the  deleterious  loss  of  the  crucified  body 
out  of  the  sepulchre,  the  least  dernier  desire,  to  be 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  the  nefarious  agent — or  in 
any-wise,  in  the  least  degree,  accessary,  in  consequence 
of  the  smallest  aberration  of  his  official  duty  ;  so  that 
not  the  slightest  shades  of  delinquency  were  ever  seen, 
please  this  courts  in  any  of  Pilate's  public  words  or 
private  acts,  by  the  keenest  vision,  of  either  the 
ancient  or  modern  vultures,  who  are  always  soaring 
with  eagle's  wings  and  peacock's  plumage,  in  the  full 
coruscation  of  philosophical  light.  But  notwithstand- 
ing the  soaring  altitude  of  these  birds  of  prey,  not  one 
of  them,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and 
jury,  can  either  show  or  prove,  the  least  degree  of  re- 
missness, in  the  words  or  acts  of  my  client;  in  order  as 
I  have  already  said  to  your  honours,  to  countenance 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  least  degree,  a  noc- 
turnal surreption  on  the  old  custom-house  of  death;  or, 
in  other  words,  by  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ  on  the 
sepulchre,  to  bring  the  deteriorating  body  of  Christ, 
back  from  the  gloomy  mansion  of  death ;  which  has 
been  appointed,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  to  all  men. 

And  now  I  pray  the  court  to  indulge  me,  as  the  ad- 
vocate for  Pontius  Pilate,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  to 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  195 

say  by  way  of  a  summary  to  all  my  former  remarks, 
in  my  client's  behalf^that  there  did  not  exist,  in  the 
whole  range  of  either  the  moral,  civil  or  military  words 
and  acts  of  Pilate,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  my  client, 
that  either  the  legal  wisdom  and  forensick  knowledge 
of  your  learned  honours,  can  possibly  draw  so  illegal 
and  unfair  a  corollary ;  or,  if  the  court  please,  so  in- 
judicious a  conclusion :  that  is — that  Pilate  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  has 
even  in  one  solitary  instance,  by  any  private  means  or 
public  acts  whatsoever,  in  the  least  degree,  [as  I  have 
more  than  once  said  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  counte- 
nanced the  sad  loss  or  escape,  as  the  case  may  have 
been — which  please  your  learned  honours,  appears  to 
be,  to  us  wise  men,  so  very  problematical,  that  we  can- 
not categorically  decide  whether  he  was  stolen  or  elop- 
ed of  his  own  accord,  out  of  the  sepulchre.  But  be 
that  as  it  may,  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  is  gone  out 
of  the  strong  hold  of  the  bastile  of  death  :]  been  remiss 
in  his  duty :  No,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours 
the  judges  of  this  court  and  the  wise  and  impartial 
jury,  the  forecasting  mind  of  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman 
governor  of  Judea,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  would, 
as  I  have  once  said,  be  a  thousand  times  more  likely  to 
draw  some  such  wise  conclusion  as  this ;  that  since  my 
client  had  been  the  unfelicitous  agent  of  the  civil  and 
martial  law  of  the  Romans,  in  consequence  of  the  pride 
and  green-eyed  jealousy  of  Caiaphas,  and  the  irascibility 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  as  it  were,  imperiously  coerced 
my  client,  so  very  contrary  to  the  views  and  convic- 
tions of  his  mind,  and  his  legal  judgment  of  the  inno- 
cency  of  Christ,  to  condemn  and  crucify  him.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  this  court  as  the  counsel  and  advo- 
cate for  Pilate,  I  am  this  day  fully  justified  in  drawing 
this  obvious  and  reasonable  conclusion  ;  which  is  this, 
please  your  honours:  that  in  order  Pontius  Pilate  might 
banish  forever  from  his  mind  this  most  unrighteous  and 
illegal  phenomena,  that  ever  before  were  seen  to  pass 
over  or  go  through  the  legal  horizon  of  the  Magna 
Charta  of  Roman  law,  that  it  should  now  since  it  had 


196 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


receded  below  the  western  horizon  of  time,  and  gone 
quietly  beneath  the  clods  of  the  valley ;  so  that  it  were 
now  the  anxious  desire  of  Pilate,  that  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  should  never  be  brought  to  light  again,  as  the 
governor,  ih  his  forensick  mind,  w^as  then  led  to  con- 
clude would  most  certainly  be  the  case  with  the  de- 
teriorating body  of  Christ,  which  he  had  so  recently 
ordered  to  be  deposited  in  a  new  sepulchre  in  the  gar- 
den :  which  sepulchre,  as  I  said  before,  had  been  but 
very  recently  excavated  out  of  a  solid  rock.  And, 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  impartial 
jury  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  this  mourn- 
ful catastrophe  and  bloody  tradegy  might,  as  my  client 
was  led  to  conclude,  forever  pass  oft"  from  his  mind. 
Therefore,  may  it  please  your  honours,  my  client  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  Pontius  Pilate,  experienced  the 
utmost  anxiety  in  his  mind,  as  he  was  led  by  the  mere 
impulse  of  common  sense,  to  look  through  the  telescope 
of  time,  while  his  anxious  mind  was  taking  a  forecast- 
ing view,  and  at  the  same  time  excursively  surveying 
the  whole  chapter  of  casualties,  w^ith  the  vast  sea  of 
future  consequences  before  his  mind ;  so  that  Pilate  in 
a  soliloquy,  drew  this  wise  and  prudent  inference  :  that 
however  he  viewed  Christ  as  innocent  on  the  day  of 
his  trial,  when  bound  before  him,  as  he  sat  on  his  judg- 
ment seat,  yet  he  unfeignedly  experienced  the  most 
anxious  solicitude  on  his  part,  that  the  silent  cemetery  of 
the  dead,  or  if  the  court  please,  the  urn  of  the  stone  sepul- 
chre, should  retain  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  under 
the  iron-bound  reign,  and  the  merciless  administration 
of  death  ;  in  ordoi'  that  the  unfurled  banners  of  that  all 
conquering  but  nebulous  dynasty,  might  wave  its  black 
colours  in  everlasting  triumph,  over  his  crucified  body, 
as  well  as  it  had  over  all  the  rest  of  the  kings  and 
princes,  and  other  illustrious  personages  of  the  earth, 
who  had  slipped  the  cable  of  life,  and  gone  the  delete- 
rious voyage  of  death  before  him.  And  that  the  silent 
clods  of  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  might  for- 
ever cover  from  the  vision  of  men,  his  unrighteous  blood, 
which  Pilate  was,  by  the  articles  of  the  treaty  between 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  19T 

the  Jews  and  Romans,  and  the  asperity  and  pugnacious 
clamours  of  Caiaphas  and  the  Jews,  forced  to  shed  on 
the  cross :  and  also,  to  hide  his  unjust  condemnation 
from  the  audibility  of  all  mankind,  and  from  the  vitu- 
perating voice  of  insulted  and  incensed  humanity  for- 
ever. 

I  am  now  done,  please  your  honours  the  judges,  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and  have  gone  through  with 
the  defence  of  my  client,  Pontius  Pilate,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar.  When  the  learned  counsel  moved  the 
court,  for  Pilate's  plenary  discharge ;  and  then  sat 
down. 

And  the  state's  attorney  rose  and  said  a  few  words 
to  the  court  and  jury,  as  a  forensick  caution  not  to 
suffer  their  sensibilities  to  overrule  their  better  judg- 
ments, in  consequence  of  Pilate's  counsel's  plausible 
arguments.  Which,  however,  made  little  or  no  im- 
pression on  the  mind  and  judgment  of  the  court.  And 
it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  crown  barrister  had 
blown  out  his  short  vituperating  blast,  he  sat  down. 
When  his  honour  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  informed 
the  court,  that  the  hour  to  adjourn  had  arrived,  and 
that  he  should  deliver  to  this  court  his  legal  opinion 
and  judgment,  on  the  prisoner's  case,  the  ensuing  day. 
When  the  court  stood  adjourned,  to  meet  in  the  same 
place  the  next  day. 


k2 


198 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  twelfth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre^ 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  in  pursuance  to  adjourn- 
ment, that  the  cdurt  of  Areopagus  or  rather  a  high 
court  of  lav/  and  inquest,  met  at  an  early  hour.  And 
when  all  the  usual  forms  of  court  etiquette  were  gone 
through,  and  the  judges  and  all  other  persons  who  con- 
stituted the  legal  elements  of  this  court  had  taken  their 
respective  seats,  and  other  legal  locations  in  the  court, 
that  the  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  high  sheriff  of 
Rome,  brought  in  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor, 
and  placed  him  at  the  bar  of  the  court. 

The  chief  judge's  charge^  in  the  case  of  Pontius  Pilate. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  silence  pervaded 


Figui'e  No.  1.  The  court  of  cliancery,  or  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

No.  2.  The  chief  judge  delivering  his  charge  to  the  jury. 

No.  3.  The  foreman  of  the  jury  presenting  to  the  judge  and  court  a  ver- 
dict of  not  guilty. 

No.  4.  fhe  high  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  leading 
Pontius  Pilate  out  of  the  court,  with  civil  and  mailial  honour. 

No.  5.  Pilate  in  the  ci-iminal's  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  199 

the  court,  his  learned  honour,  the  chief  judge,  rose  and 
went  into  an  excursive  examination,  of  the  bearings  of 
some  of  the  abstract  points,  of  civil  and  martial  law^ : 
and  in  a  lucid  manner,  went  over,  in  his  legal  sandals, 
with  large  strides,  most  assiduously  plodding  over  the 
whole  ground,  of  the  allegations  and  other  charges, 
which  the  learned  barrister,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown, 
had  preferred  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  In  which 
trite  expose  of  the  law,  the  judge  gave  the  court  a  for- 
ensick  summary,  of  all  the  shades  of  civil  and  martial 
law,  that  had  the  least  bearing  on  Pilate's  words  and 
acts — either  on  the  examination,  trial,  condemnation 
and  crucifixion  of  Christ ;  with  the  sad  and  irreparable 
loss  of  his  crucified  body  out  of  the  sepulchre.  And 
as  the  learned  judge  proceeded  along  the  forensick  road, 
his  long  plodding  strides  soon  brought  him  to  that  part 
of  Pilate's  conduct,  in  the  examination  of  Christ  at  his 
judgment  seat,  where  the  state's  attorney  so  onerously 
endeavoured  to  hold  up  to  the  eye  of  the  court,  entirely 
as  derogatory  to  the  civil  honour  and  glory  of  a  Roman 
governor  to  have  been  guilty  of.  When  the  chief  judge 
said  to  the  court,  that  he  viewed  the  assiduous  endea- 
vours of  the  state's  attorney,  accompanied  with  the 
usual  vibrations  of  his  eloquent  tongue — no  doubt,  W'ith 
a  view  to  try  to  raise  a  few  dark  spots,  on  the  disk  of 
the  official  sun  of  the  governor's  civil  and  military 
character,  as  an  officer  under. the  Roman  government. 
The  chief  judge  then  observed,  that  he  must  unfeign- 
edly  acknowledge  to  this  intelligent  and  enlighten- 
ed court,  that  the  legal  glasses  in  the  telescope,  through 
which  the  learned  barrister,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown, 
viewed  Pilate's  conduct,  when  Christ  stood  bound  at 
his  bar,  please  the  court  and  jury,  are  more  transpa- 
rent than  the  old  fashioned  court  glasses  which  I  have 
been  in  the  practice  of  using  for  many  years.  But, 
please  this  court  and  jury,  whether  it  is  the  onerous 
density  of  the  clouds  over  my  mind,  or  the  weighty 
atmosphere  of  years,  that  is  the  latent  cause  of  these 
few  shades  of  discrepancy  in  our  views  of  the  case,  now 


200  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

pending  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
I  shall  not  at  this  time  detain  the  court  to  decide. 

I  shall,  therefore,  pray  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest not  to  misunderstand  me,  nor  suffer  its  attention 
to  obliquely  glide  off,  into  the  narrow  valley  of  unchar- 
itableness ;  so  as  to  view  the  remarks  1  have  made, 
with  any  invidious  feelings,  or  with  any  insidious  de- 
sign on  my  part,  in  the  least  degree  to  lower  the  fame 
of  the  learned  barrister's  professional  talents ;  nor  yet, 
please  the  court  and  jury,  do  I  intend,  knowingly,  to 
either  irreverently,  or  uncharitably  impugn  the  legal 
motives  of  the  state's  attorney,  in  the  plenary  display  he 
has  made  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  in  the  fine  strokes  and 
delicate  touches  of  his  oratorical  pencil,  which  he  has 
placed  with  his' usual  ingenuity  at  the  audibility  of  this 
bar.  I  must  candidly  acknowledge  I  could  not  but  ad- 
mire, the  glowing  scintillation  of  his  mind  ascending 
aloft,  when  his  learned  honour  highly  charged  his  for- 
ensick  voice  from  the  thunder  cloud,  in  the  vituperating 
atmosphere  ;  and  then  poured  down  his  rushing  torrents 
of  oratorical  rain,  to  imbue  the  mind  of  the  court,  with 
those  dark  sha.des  of  guilt,  which  the  crown  barrister 
saw  (I  suppose,  through  the  clear  glasses  of  his  legal 
telescope,)  in  the  words  and  acts  of  Pilate,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  while  the  case  of  Christ  was  pending  at  his 
judgment  seat.  When  the  learned  barrister,  as  it  were, 
in  rather  an  oblique  manner,  very  ingeniously  insinu- 
ated, at  the  governor's  delinquency, — in  the  loss  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

[The  official  duty  of  a  state's  attorney,  briefly  stated  by 
the  chief  judge  of  the  court  of  Areopagus.] 

May  it  please  this  court,  I  shall  now  consider,  under 
I  trust,  an  high  pressure  of  the  plenary  principles  of 
Roman  philanthropy,  and  it  is  my  duty,  unfeignedly 
to  pray  this  court,  to  keep  in  view  the  onerous  duty, 
which  the  laws  of  the  realm  do  both  morally  and  legally 
impose  on  a  crown  lawyer,  in  order  to  fulfil  the 
various  functions  and  legal  duties  of  his  office,  with 
forensick  dignity  and  courtly  honour. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  201 

My  object  in  this  epitome  is,  to  place  before  the  view 
of  this  court,  the  onerous  responsibility  that  the  learned 
barrister,  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  is  under  at  all  times, 
to  fully  sustain  the  honour  of  the  throne,  the  glory  and 
dignity  of  the  government,  and  the  sanction  of  both  the 
letter  and  stamina  of  the  law,  against  all  that  are  either 
the  delinquents,  or  the  open  violators  of  its  statutes. 
Therefore,  the  court  will  be  led,  I  trust,  to  see,  that 
however  I  shall  differ  in  my  views  from  the  crown 
attorney,  in  Pilate,  the  prisoner's  case,  I  shall  do  it 
conscientiously;  and  not  with  a  latent  view,  to  cause  his 
pow^erful  torrents  of  ratiocination,  to  appear  either  re- 
pulsive or  irrelevant  to  the  legal  vision  of  this  court : 
neither  do  I  wish  to  impugn  the  arduous  course  of 
fidelity,  the  states-attorney  has  pursued,  in  thus  faith- 
fully discharging  his  official  duties  to  his  sovereign,  and 
the  Magna  Charta  of  his  realm. 

It  is  my  duty  to  inform  this  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
after  listening  with  calm  and  unbiased  attention,  to  all 
the  matters  of  fact  that  have  been  given  in  evidence  be- 
fore its  bar,  that  J  cannot  admit  the  relevancy,  which 
the  vivid  flashes  of  forensick  light,  nor  yet  the  lucid 
arguments  of  the  crown  barrister ;  who  in  his  powerful 
illustrations  of  the  various  bearings  of  the  law%  gives  a 
sombreness  to  the  words  and  acts  of  Pontius  Pilate, 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  when  he  sat  as  a  judge  on  the 
trial  of  that  very  mysterious  being  called  Christ. 

I  must  inform  this  court  and  jury,  that  the  barris- 
ter's eloquence,  has  not  as  yet  made  an  entire  proselyte 
of  me,  by  his  forensick  doctrine  and  trite  allusions  of 
the  prisoner's  guilt  in  any  one  of  the  allegations,  con- 
tained in  the  declaration  preferred  by  the  states-general 
against  Pilate,  on  the  preceding  days  of  his  trial. 
Although,  it  is  true,  the  learned  barrister  frequently 
accompanied  his  reasoning  with  the  acumen  of  his  legal 
fire  and  usual  ingenuity. 

But  leaving  the  states-general  in  full  possession  of 
his  own  view's  of  Pilate's  guilt,  I  shall  now,  by  the  in- 
dulgence and  patience  of  this  court  of  chancery,  take 
an  excursive  survey  of  the  most  cardinal  arguments 


^2  CHllIST  REJECTED.  \ 

and  general  doctrines,  laid  down  at  the  bar  of  this 
court  by  the  governor's  counsel.  Therefore,  I  am  led 
in  my  official  duties,  as  judge  of  this  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  to  view  with  Pilate's  counsel,  that  there  was 
not  the  least  shade  of  suspicion,  on  the  sound  principles 
of  clear  reasoning,  or  if  the  court  please,  sound  and 
irrefragable  argument,  that  can  in  any  way  or  shape 
whatever,  lower  its  fell  eye  of  sable  suspicion,  on  any  one 
of  the  words  or  acts  of  Pilate,  on  that  day,  while  the 
case  of  Christ  was  pending  before  his  bar,  as  a  Roman 
judge,  in  the  letter,  stamina  or  spirit  of  the  law, 
made  against  all  kind  of  litigation  and  capital  offences, 
either  in  the  Jewish  or  Roman  laws,  throughout  the 
whole  of  Pilate's  jurisdiction ;  which,  at  the  time  of  the 
loss  of  the  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  custom-house  of 
death,  embraced  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  province 
of  Judea. 

This  court,  no  doubt,  distinctlyrecollects,  that  Pilate's 
counsel  informed  the  court,^  that  his  client's  mind  was 
deeply  impressed  with  the  innocency  of  Christ,  whom 
the  pugnacious  prayer  of  the  Jews  had  brought  to 
Pilate's  bar,  in  a  state  of  nudity,  quite  disfranchised  of 
every  civil  and  moral  excellency,  and  charged  before 
Pilate  as  being  a  seditious  malefactor — going  through- 
out all  Judea  and  Galilee,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
disseminating  a  spirit  of  contumacy  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  at  the  same  time  imbuing  with  the  leprosy 
of  subitaneous  insubordination  to  the  civil,  moral  and  re- 
ligious hpibits  of  the  people,  with  his  new  and  strange 
doctrines,  of  the  soul's  immortality,  and  of  man's  moral 
and  religious  accountability  to  the  Great  Spirit  above. 
When  in  the  wild  rapsody  of  a  weak  mind,  under  a 
high  pressure  of  a  theological  zeal,  he  has  been  heard 
to  say,  that  he  the  said  Christ,  would  become  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  the  chief  judge  of  all  men.  But  if  the  poor 
harmless  man  did  say  these  things,  so  very  repulsive  to 
human  reason,  and  the  philosophy  of  our  enlightened 
and  intelligent  minds,  please  this  court,  and  the  gentle- 
men of  the  jury,  he  was  more  to  be  pitied,  than  per- 
secuted unto  death ;  for  the  mere  escape  of  a  little  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  203 

the  rapsodies   gas,   out  of  his  travelling  theological 
boiler. 

But,  please  this  court  and  jury,  with  respect  to  the 
postulatory  charges  and  allegations,  which  Caiaphaa 
and  the  irascible  Jews,  preferred  against  him,  at 
Pilate's  judgment  seat ;  his  enemies  and  prosecutors, 
were  not  able  to  substantiate  a  single  charge,  by  any 
legal  witness  that  was  under  his  enemies  physical  or 
moral  control.  I  therefore  presume,  that  this  court 
with  myself,  will  clearly  see  the  onerous  responsibility  of 
Pilate,  between  the  altars  of  Justice  and  mercy  ;  as  his 
office,  as  Roman  governor  of  Judea,  imperiously  led 
him  to  obey  the  wishes  and  pugnacious  spirit  of  Caia- 
phas,  and  the  irascibility  of  the  Jews  on  the  one  hand ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  voice  of  justice,  through  the 
channel  of  truth  and  mercy,  from  the  convictions  of  his 
own  mind,  that  Christ,  the  supposed  malefactor,  placed 
by  the  arm  of  the  law  at  the  bar  of  his  judgment  seat 
was  in  reality  innocent. 

I  would  therefore,  if  my  condescension  to  the  court 
this  day  will  not  be  viewed  in  a  repulsive  point  of  light, 
for  the  chief  judge  of  so  vast  a  kingdom,  as  that  of  the 
Roman  empire,  to  place  himself  in  the  attitude  of 
prayer  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  and  say,  What  in  the 
name  of  common  sense  was  Pontius  Pilate,  as  a  judge 
of  our  law  to  do,  or  please  this  court,  any  other  judge 
of  our  sovereign  realm,  when  thus  circumstanced!  I 
iterate  and  ask  this  court :  Does  the  official  condition 
in  which  a  judge  is  placed,  by  virtue  of  his  office  and 
the  panoply  of  his  legal  functions,  in  which  the  law 
presents  him  as  a  judge — before  the  civick  altars  of  our 
courts,  so  entirely  disfranchise  him,  merely  because  he 
is  a  judge,  of  the  free  exercise  of  justice,  truth,  mercy, 
and  even  Roman  philanthropy  ?  and  let  me  add,  before 
this  court,  all  the  other  delicate  and  finer  feelings  of  our 
nature  ? — such  as  benevolence  and  clemency,  and  many 
other  latent  excellencies  !  I  shall  therefore  with  all  due 
deference  to  the  intuitive  and  accumulative  wisdom  and 
knowledge,  which  I  view  this  high  court  to  be  in  the 
most  plenary  possession  of,  which  involuntarily  leads 


^04  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

me  to  inquire  of  its  wisdom,  whether  it  is  reasonable, 
that  in  consequence  of  being  one  of  the  judges  of  our 
law,  I  must  first  go  and  entirely  dismantle  my  heart  of 
all  the  softer  sensibilities  of  our  nature,  and  disrobe  my 
mind  of  all  its  benevolent  qualities,  and  then  appear  at 
the  bar  of  our  courts,  in  a  nebulous  canoply,  standing 
entrenched  behind  the  bulwarks  of  the  mere  letter  of  the 
law,  with  a  heart  clothed  with  a  coat  of  mail,  invul- 
nerable to  all  the  claims  of  innocence,  and  entirely  cal- 
lous to  all  the  cries  and  groans  of  oppressed  humanity  ! 
which  please  this  court  and  jury,  we  as  judges,  more 
or  less  behold  in  the  persons,  which  either  the  letter  or 
the  civil  and  military  arm  of  the  law,  places  at  the  bar 
of  our  courts,  for  adjudication.  And  if  we  pursue  the 
doctrine  of  the  states-attorney  to  its  perennial  source,  it 
will  naturally  and  invariably  lead  to  this  conclusion : 
that  because  I  am  a  judge  of  one  of  the  courts  of  Roman 
law,  and  in  order  to  fully  qualify  myself  for  the  plenary 
discharge  of  my  duties,  which  my  official  office  as  a 
judge  legally  imposes  upon  me,  and  I  must  appear  be- 
hind the  f  ivick  altar,  as  an  insensible  image  sounding 
the  deathly  sentence  of  the  letter  of  the  law,  like  the 
solemn  knell  from  the  bell,  on  the  bastile  of  death  ! 

I  will  now  tax  the  patience  of  the  court  and  jury, 
while  I  pHrsue  my  ratiocination,  in  the  consecutive 
wake  and  legal  sequence  of  the  crown  barrister's  doc- 
trine and  arguments ;  and  apply  them  to  the  case  of 
Pilate,  the  prisoner  before  the  bar ;  and  I  shall  then 
consider  it  as  indubitably  manifest,  to  the  full  convic- 
tion of  the  mind  of  this  court,  that  the  prisoner  Pontius 
Pilate,  the  governor  of  Jerusalem,  while  sitting  on  his 
judgment  seat,  and  the  person  of  Christ  standing  before 
him  for  adjudication; — that  Pilate's  examination  of  all 
the  testimony,  that  Caiaphas  and  his  satellites  brought 
against  him,  Pilate  discovered  such  base  discrepancy 
in  the  whole  of  the  witnesses,  as  that,  in  pursuance  of 
the  legal  convictions  of  his  mind,  he  did,  on  this  myste- 
rious occasion,  manifest  some  light  indications  of  Roman 
commiserati->n  towards  the  supposed  malefactor  Christ, 
as  he  stood  bound  at  his  bar,  vehemently  accused  by 


I 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  205 

the  green-eyed  jealousy  of  the  Jewish  high  priest,  and 
the  irascible  spirit  of  his  fawning  satellites. 

Now,  the  whole  postulatory  stamina,  of  the  doctrine 
and  argument  of  his  very  learned  honour  the  states- 
general,  against  Pilate,  on  the  trial  of  Christ,  is  this — 
please  the  court  and  jury:  That  the  crown  attorney's 
doctrine,  places  Pilate,  just  like  an  old  ship,  which  the 
proper  officer  of  some  commercial  city  has  condemned 
and  ordered  to  be  dismantled  of  her  sails,  rigging  and 
spars; — ^just  so  this  new  doctrine  of  entire  nullification, 
which  the  crown  barrister  has  placed  at  the  bar  of  this 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  in  order  to  criminate 
Pilate,  is  in  its  legal  stamina  as  follows  :  that  the  pris- 
oner, Pontius  Pilate,  (and  we  judges  shall  have  to  fol- 
low close  in  Pilate's  wake,)  must  go  and  dismantle  him- 
self of  the  free  volition  of  his  mind,  and  all  the  physical 
and  mental  powers  and  faculties  of  our  natures,  so  that 
when  Pilate  sat  on  his  judgment  seat,  he  was  in  con- 
sequence of  his  office  as  a  judge  of  Roman  law,  entirely 
deprived  of  the  legal  use,  and  untrampled  exercise  of 
the  volition  of  his  own  mind,  and  private  judgment,  in 
all  cases  of  legitation  and  crime,  that  might  at  any 
time  have  come  under  Pilate's  judicial  practice  for  his 
legal  decision:  therefore  please  this  court  and  jury,  I 
experience  this  day  an  anxious  predilection  in  my  mind 
to  deeply  imbue  the  mind  of  this  court  and  jury,  w^ith 
a  few  of  my  sententious  remarks;  that  is,  if  these  new 
principles,  and  nullifying  doctrines  of  the  learned  bar- 
rister in  the  behalf  of  the  crown,  should  be  adopted  as 
the  orthodox  and  legal  doctrine  of  our  courts  of  either 
civil  or  military  law:  I  shall  unfeignedly  inform  this 
court  and  jury,  that  in  that  case  I  should  go  and  im- 
mediately resign  my  official  office  as  a  judge  of  Roman 
law,  and  with  repulsive  disgust  at  the  extreme  weak- 
ness and  folly  of  mankind,  entirely  abandon  both  the 
profession  and  practice  of  Roman  law.  But  I  am  fully 
persuaded,  though  I  thus  speak  my  sentiments  in  the 
presence  of  this  court,  that  the  crown  barrister's  doc- 
trine of  the  entire  nullification  of  all  the  unalienable 
rights  and  privileges  of  us  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  with 

s 


206  CHRIST  REJECTED^ 

the  rest  of  the  citizens  of  Rome  ;  I  hope  shall  never  be 
invaded  by  the  heterodox  doctrines  of  some  young  up- 
start or  the  fevered  rapsody  of  some  new  theorist^  either 
in  civil  law,  or  the  mythology  of  our  thirty  thousand 
gods ;  in  whose  hands,  w^e  as  wise  men,  have  commit- 
ted the  safe  keeping  of  our  nation — to  act  as  guardians 
for  us,  against  all  theorists  and  nullifiers  of  old  laws, 
rules,  axioms,,  and  the  custom  of  our  legitimate  ances- 
tors. 

But,  please  this  court  and  jury,^  leaving  the  case  of 
Pilate  for  a  few  moments,  1  shall,  as  it  were,  gratuitously 
suppose,  that  if  any  judge  of  one  of  our  courts  of  law, 
should  have  his  mind  deeply  convinced  of  either  the 
guilt  or  innocency  of  a  prisoner,  which  either  the  letter 
or  arm  of  the  law  shall  arraign  at  its  bar,  for  trial,  and 
I  as  a  judge  should  be  fully  satisfied,  from  all  the  col- 
lateral circumstances  of  the  case — and  when  the  pos- 
tulatory  evidence  were  placed,  by  the  plenary  powers, 
which  the  plaintiff  may  be  in  possession  of,  over  the 
ignorance,  imbecility  and  poverty  of  the  defendant ; 
yet,  please  this  court,  I  as  a  judge  might  discover  from 
the  dark  clouds  of  suspicion,  which  locate  themselves 
over  the  heads  of  some  of  the  witnesses  in  the  case,  and 
a  vascillating  atmosphere,  that  is  oftentimes  associated 
wdth  human  testimony  in  other  of  the  witnesses  of  the 
same  case.  This  view  of  the  doctrine  of  the  states- 
general's  nullification,  goes  to  show  this  court,  how 
very  absurd  and  unreasonable  the  conclusion  would  be^ 
that  because  I  am  a  judge  of  Roman  law,  I  must  be 
solely  and  entirely  debarred  of  the  free  volition  of  my 
mind ;  and  at  the  same  time  disfranchised  of  the  unali- 
enable privileges  of  a  Roman  citizen  ;  so  as  not,  please 
this  court  and  jury,  to  fully  express  my  legal  views  in 
this  or  any  other  court,  on  the  guilt  or  innocency  of 
any  person,  who  might  be  brought  as  a  culprit,  or  ar- 
raigned as  a  malefactor  for  trial  before  me.  So  that, 
perhaps  in  some  of  the  suspicious  elements  of  the  testi- 
mony preferred  against  the  prisoner,  I  should  fully 
satisfy  myself,  as  the  ofi[icial  organ  of  the  law,  and  that 
too,  after  the  most  fair,  candid  and  impartial  investiga- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  507 

tion  of  the  legal  validity  of  all  the  witnesses,  that  for 
want  of  substantial  and  direct  evidence  in  the  case,  I 
should  both  see  and  experience  it  to  be  my  official  duty, 
to  recommend  the  prisoner  to  the  court  and  jury  for 
mercy  :  and  then,  according  to  our  new  theorist  on  the 
doctrine  of  nullification,  that  in  consequence  of  my 
exercising  the  volition  and  other  unalienable  privileges 
of  a  common  plebeian  citizen  of  Rome,  I  should  be 
characterized  by  the  green-eyed  serpent  of  jealousy, 
who  lies  coiled  at  the  root  of  the  Upas  tree,  disgorging 
its  constuperating  venom,  and  most  maliciously  impugn 
my  conduct  in  the  supposed  case,  as  a  delinquent  in  my 
official  duty,  or  else  a  party  with  the  supposed  crime  of 
the  defendant  at  the  bar.  The  court  will  indulge  me 
to  say,  I  am  not  yet  prepared  to  admit  the  fallacious 
relevancy  of  the  barrister's  argument. 

But,  please  this  court  and  jury,  to  resume  the  case  of 
Pilate,  the  prisoner  in  durance  at  the  bar  of  this  court — 
Is  not  the  foregoing  portrait,  a  true  picture  of  Pilate's 
case  ?  Was  he  not,  by  this  new  theorist  and  doctrine 
of  nullification  of  the  crown  barrister,  placed  in  pre- 
cisely the  very  unpropitious  circumstances  I  have  de- 
scribed, when  that  (supposed)  malefactor  called  Christ, 
stood  bound  as  a  prisoner  for  trial  at  the  judgment  seat 
of  Pilate? 

And  now,  may  it  please  this  court  and  jury,  it  de- 
volves on  me,  as  an  imperious  duty  which  I  owe,  first 
to  my  conscience,  and  secondly  to  the  glorious  Magna 
Charta  of  Roman  law,  and  thirdly  to  the  unalienable 
rights  and  priviliges  of  all  its  free  citizens,  to  inform 
this  high  court  of  chancery,  that  if  such  a  nullifying 
sentiment,  and  new  forensick  axiom  were  to  be  received 
and  adopted,  in  all  our  courts  of  civil  law;  What,  may 
it  please  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  would  be  the 
inference  that  common  sense  would  draw  ?  The  court 
and  jury  will  no  doubt  indulge  me  to  say,  that  it  would 
at  once  go  to  disfranchise  all  our  judges  of  their  per- 
sonal and  unalienable  rights  and  privileges,  with  the 
rest  of  the  Roman  citizens.  And  let  me  ask  this  court 
again,   What  would  be  the  demoralizing  eflfects,   and 


208  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

constuperating  influence  on  all  our  courts  of  civil  law, 
in  a  forensick  point  of  view,  should  this  nullifying  and 
unfelicitous  precedent  be  but  once  admitted  in  this  or 
any  other  of  our  courts  of  Roman  jurisprudence?  I  ask, 
if  it  is  not  irrelevant  to  embargo  the  patience  of  this 
wise  and  impartial  court,  with  my  impugning  remarks 
on  this  new  doctrine.  Would  it  not  produce  the  most 
dangerous  and  constuperating  influence,  on  the  physi- 
cal and  moral  elements,  in  our  system  of  civil  law 
and  government,  throughout  the  empire?  Which  would 
soon  produce  the  most  deleterious  effects  throughout  all 
the  civil  and  legal  channels  of  law  and  justice,  between 
the  ruler  and  the  ruled  ;  and  between  man  and  man  1 
And  please  this  court  and  jury,  it  would  soon  cause 
crime  and  innocence,  to  be  amalgamated  in  one  com- 
mon receptacle  of  vice  and  anarchy — far  worse  than  a 
chaotick  or  an  uncivilized  state  of  society. 

I  shall  once  more  elicit  this  court  to  exercise  its 
patience,  while  I  indulge  myself  in  the  use  of  a  figure, 
to  convey  the  new  doctrine  of  the  states-general's  nulli- 
fication, with  more  force  on  the  mental  vision  of  this 
court.  The  idea  is  this :  Would  not  this  unpropitious 
doctrine,  cause  our  judges  to  be  located  in  the  rear- 
ward of  all  the  civick  altars  in  our  courts  of  justice? 
And  would  it  not  appear  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
human  mind,  and  even  to  every  person  of  common 
sense,  just  like  a  graven  image  of  either  gold,  silver, 
wood  or  stone,  chained  by  the  irrevocable  law  of  stern 
fate?  Or  like  insensible  Egyptian  mummies  against  the 
walls  of  our  court  houses  ;  so  that  all  our  judges  would 
bear  in  their  countenances,  a  striking  symmetry  to  the 
ancient  image  of  Molock,  not  having  the  free  volition 
of  their  minds,  and  the  exercise  of  their  legal  judgment; 
merely  with  a  void  place  or  cavity,  like  the  idol  I  have 
alluded  to,  for  the  letter  of  the  law  to  pass  through ; 
like  an  insensible  channel,  to  convey  the  vituperating 
voice  of  the  condemnatory  sentence  of  the  letter  of  the 
law,on  the  devoted  head  of  the  prisoner,  which  the  foul 
and  irascible  elements  of  green-eyed  jealousy,  envy, 
hatred  and  malice,  with  all  the  other  sable,  but  name- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  209 

less  passions  of  the  wicked,  vicious  and  envious  part  of 
mankind,  might  at  any  time,  under  the  cloak  of  the 
mere  letter  of  the  law,  through  the  agency  of  its  officers, 
be  brought  to  the  bar  of  our  courts  for  adjudication.  . 
I  therefore  appeal  to  the  wisdom  of  this  court  and 
jury,  in  accordance  with  my  associates,  the  judges  on 
the  bench;  and  also  to  all  our  judges  of  courts  of  civil 
law  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  whether  we  do  not 
frequently  find,  in  our  legal  practice,  that  after  long 
and  iterate  experience,  even  under  the  most  free  use 
and  untrammelled  exercise  of  the  whole  elements  of  the 
plenary  volition  of  our  minds,  and  private  judgment, 
that  we  frequently  find  it  exceedingly  difficult,  at  times, 
to  give  a  true  and  just  judgment,  in  many  cases,  pre- 
sented before  us,  for  adjudication.  And,  my  learned 
colleagues,  does  it  not  often  happen,  that  after  we  have 
plodded  with  mental  turmoil  and  legal  drugery,  over 
all  the  arable  land,  and  fertile  fields,  that  are  within 
the  purlieu  of  the  whole  arcanum  of  legal  wisdom  and 
knowledge;  when  we  judges,  by  a  more  than  ordinary 
exertion,  of  the  almost  herculean  strength  of  our  legal 
minds,  have  placed  the  prisoner's  case  in  the  scales,  that 
hang  before  our  civick  sanctuary,  which  stands  before 
the  altars  of  the  gods  of  justice,  truth  and  mercy;  so 
that,  please  this  court  and  jury,  after  we  (limited) 
judges  of  this  mundane  dispensation,  have  with  the 
almost  passive  patience  of  a  Job,  as  it  were,  patiently 
heard,  and  strictly  examined  all  the  witnesses  and 
testimony,  in  the  defendant  or  prisoner's  case,  which 
are  either  of  a  collateral,  circumstantial,  presumptive 
or  of  a  positive  character,  we  have  added  to  the  grace 
of  our  legal  patience,  the  industrious  habits  of  the  bee 
and  have  most  assidiously  gathered,  from  all  the  legal 
light  which  our  smoky  glasses  of  imperfection,  in  our 
law  telescopes,  could  draw  down  on  the  cases  of  those 
culprits,  placed  at  the  bar  of  our  courts,  before  us  as 
judges,  either  for  judgment  or  acquital — so  that  I  can 
this  day  freely  appeal  to  the  reiterated  experience  and 
practice  of  all  my  coadjutors,  who  sit  with  me  as  judges 
on  the  beneh^  as  auxiliary  agents  in  the  trial  of  Pilate^ 

^2 


210  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this  court — that  after  we 
have  in  our  law  sandals,  with  assiduous  turmoil,  plod- 
ded over  the  whole  ground  of  the  arcanum  of  elemen- 
tary wisdom  and  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  and 
please  this  court  and  jury  we,  as  judges  of  the  words 
and  actions  of  our  fellow  men,  have  taken  the  most  ex- 
cursive survey  of  the  whole  consecutive  range  of  evi- 
dence ;  and  have  placed  the  whole  collocation  of  their 
words  and  acts  before  us ;  yet,  we  find  it  exceedingly 
difficult,  to  righteously  judge,  and  truly  weigh  in  the 
golden  scales  of  equity  and  justice,  the  true  shades  of 
either  the  guilt  or  innocency,  of  the  prisoner  or  defen- 
dant, as  the  case  may  be  before  us. 

And  may  it  please  this  court  and  jury,  having  given 
you  my  view  of  a  judge's  official  duty,  and  the  assid- 
uous turmoil  which  more  or  less  follows  close  in  the 
wake  of  a  faithful  discharge  of  his  legal  profession,  1  do 
now,  therefore,  in  the  behalf  of  myself  and  the  associate 
judges  on  my  right  and  left,  deliver  to  this  high  and 
illustrious  court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  lost  body 
of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  that  our  legal  opinion 
and  judgment  is  this :  That  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
who  was  at  the  time  of  the  alleged  robbery  of  the  cus- 
tom-house of  death,  the  Roman  governor  of  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  and  province  of  J udea  ; — I  therefore  iterate 
to  this  court  and  jury,  that  our  legal  judgment  of  the 
charges  and  specifications  in  the  indictment,  which  the 
state's  attorney,  has  preferred  against  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar,  is  this  :  That  for  want  of  indubitable  testimony, 
are  nugatory  and  entirely  defunct.  And  that  his  ex- 
cellency the  governor,  Pontius  Pilate,  stands  before  the 
bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  and  the  civick 
altars  of  his  national  gods,  innocent  and  entirely  free 
from  all  imputation  of  guilt,  or  the  slightest  shades  of 
suspicion,  arising  out  of  a  few  indications  of  sympathy, 
legal  clemency,  and  sheer  justice.  That  Pontius  Pilate, 
openly  to  the  world,  manifested  towards  Christ,  on  the 
day  of  his  trial,  in  strenuously  endeavouring  to  persuade 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  to  spare  the  in- 
nocent life  of  Christ,  instead  of  that  notorious  robber 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  211 

and  seditious  murderer,  called  Barabbas;  whom  Caia- 
phas  had  already,  in  a  spirit  of  malevolence  and  con- 
tumacy, demanded  at  Pilate's  hands,  as  their  national 
sign,  for  to  be  written  on  the  telegraph  of  a  Roman 
cross,  by  dipping  the  pen  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  The 
ostensive  object  of  the  Jews,  in  this  capricious  and  un- 
natural demand  appears  to  be,  that  they  might  exhibit 
in  the  bloody  hieroglyphicks  of  that  harmless  enthuias- 
tic  theologean,  called  Christ,  their  former  salvation 
from  Egyptian  bondage,  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  life  of 
that  poor  inoffensive  man. 

The  judge  then  gave  the  case  of  Pilate,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  with  the  papers  that  w^ere  necessary  for 
their  further  information,  into  the  hands  of  the  jury, 
who  retired  into  the  jury  chamber;  and  in  the  space  of 
about  three  hours  returned  into  court :  when  the  fore- 
man thereof  presented  to  the  judges  and  court  their 
unanimous  verdict,  of  the  prisoner  not  being  guilty  of 
any  dereliction,  of  either  his  civil  duty,  as  the  governor 
of  Judea,  nor  of  any  remissness,  as  the  chief  comman- 
der of  the  military  forces  of  the  Romans,  in  that  pro- 
vince of  the  empire. 

The  chief  judge  rose,  and  read  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  to  this  high  court  of  chancery;  which  report  of  the 
jury,  was  by  the  five  judges  and  whole  court,  most 
unanimously  received.  When  the  high  marshal  of  the 
empire,  and  high  sheriflf  of  Rome,  conducted  Pontius 
Pilate,  the  governor,  out  of  the  court,  under  the  flowing 
banners  of  Roman  honour;  and  the  court  adjourned 
to  meet  the  next  day. 


212 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  Xni. 

The  thirteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre, of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest  met  persuant  to  adjournment,  at  an  early  hour: 
and  as  soon  as  the  judges  arrived,  and  were  seated  on 
the  bench,  and  the  counsels  for  and  against  the  defend- 
ant at  their  proper  locations,  that  the  grand  marshal 
of  the  empire  entered  the  court,  in  company  with  the 
high]  sheriff  of  Rome,  followed  by  some  of  the  royal 
guards,  who  brought  in  the  centurion,  and  placed  him 
before  the  bar.  The  crier  of  the  court  having  gone 
through  his  usual  forms,  and  put  up  at  the  civick  altar 
his  customary  prayer,  of  may  God  save  the  Emperor 


Figure  No.  1.  The  five  judges  of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

No.  2,  The  centurion's  counsel  taking  his  notes. 

No.  S.  The  states-attorney  opens  ihe  prosecution  against  the  centurion. 

No.  4.  The  marshal  and  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  with  the  royal  guards, 
bringing  the  centurion  into  court,  to  be  tried  for  the  neglect  of  his  duty,  m 
the  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

No.  5.  The  centui-ion  placed  in  the  crimiuars  box. 

No,  6.  The  twelve  jurymen  panejledr 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  213 

and  commonicealth,  that  his  learned  honour  the  states- 
attorney  rose,  and  had  the  centurion  sworn  by  the  legal 
officer  of  the  court,  after  the  following  form  of  affirma- 
tion: when  the  crown  barrister  said,  you  sir,  do  in  the 
presence  of  our  gods,  and  before  the  civick  altars  of 
this  august  court  of  law  and  inquest,  most  solemnly 
affirm,  that  you  will  truly  and  faithfully  declare  to  this 
court,  all  the  matters  and  things  you  may  know  of  the 
loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre; 
and  that  the  testimony  you  shall  be  called  upon  to  give 
in  before  the  judges  and  jury  of  this  court,  shall  be  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  to 
the  best  of  your  knowledge,  in  the  presence  of  this 
court,  and  in  the  sight  of  the  gods! 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  this  affirmation 
had  been  administered  to  the  centurion,  the  learned 
counsel  on  the  behpJf  of  the  crown,  with  much  apparent 
show  of  forensick  grace,  desired  the  centurion  to  briefly 
state  to  the  court  and  jury,  in  the  most  easy  and  com- 
municative language,  the  which  you  sir,  as  an  officer 
in  the  Roman  army  have  the  command  of:  all  which  had 
come  to  your  own  knowledge  relating  to  the  cause  now- 
pending  at  the  bar  ;  and  be  so  good,  sir,  as  to  present  all 
the  persons,  things,  circumstances,  words  and  acts,  that 
may  have  the  least  coindication  on  the  case,  and  place 
the  same  in  consecutive  order  before  this  court — that 
came  within  the  range  of  your  military  profession  and 
knowledge,  relating  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the 
reported  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of  the  dead  body  of 
that  (supposed)  malefactor  called  Christ,  that  the  civil 
and  martial  laws  of  the  Romans,  to  all  human  appear- 
ance, had  so  securely  bound  in  the  ancient  custom- 
house of  death. 

[The  centurion's  testimony  given  in  at  the  solemn 
bar  of  this  high  court  of  Areopagus,  held  on  the  side  of 
Mount  Calvary,  and  within  the  precinct  of  the  garden 
where  Christ's  crucified  body  had  been  deposited  in  a 
new  sepulchre,  that  had  been  but  recently  excavated 
or  hewn  out  of  a  solid  rock.] 


214  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

When  the  centurion  arose,  and  with  military  and 
soldier-like  obsequiousness,  which  he  possessed  the  most 
plenary  command  of,  stated  to  the  judges  as  follows: 
May  it  please  your  learned  honours  your  prisoner  was, 
at  the  time  of  this  reported  robbery  and  surreptitious 
invasion  of  the  silent  dormitory,  and  calm  repose  of  the 
dead,  or  please  your  honours,  dropping  my  trope,  at 
the  august  bar  of  this  court,  and  using  a  more  common 
phraseology,  in  order  to  be  a  little  more  congenial  to 
the  vernacular  language  and  ideas  of  a  number  of 
plebeians,  who  I  this  day  behold  in  the  aisles  and  areas 
of  this  court ; — I  say,  the  sad  and  distressing  loss  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre,  that  had 
been,  please  your  honours,  by  the  strict  and  most  im- 
perative command  of  the  Roman  governor,  Pontius 
Pilate,  acting  as  it  were,  co-ordinately  and  in  full  con- 
junction with  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
placed  under  my  military  care  and  providence,  till  the 
third  day  should  have  passed  over  the  garden  and 
sepulchre,  where  Christ's  crucified  body  had  been  de- 
posited. And  being  at  that  time  an  officer  in  the 
Roman  army,  by  the  well  known  rank  of  a  centurion,  I 
had  the  entire  command  of  one  hundred  men.  Now  one 
of  the  special  circumstances,  that  attended  the  placing 
the  body  of  Christ,  after  it  had  been  crucified,  under 
my  charge,  was  as  follows  :  The  day  on  which  Christ 
was  crucified,  appeared  to  be  followed  by  a  day,  which 
the  Jews  observed  as  a  high  day  ;  that  is,  please  this 
court,  the  day  before  their  annual  sabbath,  (the  chris- 
tian may  see  John  19,  31,)  in  which  the  nation  of  the 
Jews  celebrated  their  redemption  from  their  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years  Egyptain  bondage,  (the  Jew,  if 
he  please,  may  see  their  going  out,  or  what  the  English 
render  their  Exodus,  12, 41.)  Now,  please  your  honours, 
and  just  before  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  the  whole 
interest  of  Caiaphas,  and  the  Jews  of  the  city  of  Jeru- 
salem, sent  a  deputation  to  Pilate  the  governor,  to  have 
the  legs  of  the  malefactors  that  I  had  crucified  that  day, 
broken,  in  order  that  their  bodies  might  be  taken  away, 
from  the  place  of  execution ;  so  that  the  holy  and  pious 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  215 

vision  of  the  Jews,  as  they  went  up  to  the  temple  of 
their  God,  might  not  be  distressed  with  such  a  barba- 
rous and  repulsive  sight :  [the  christian  can  find  the 
root  of  this  idea,  in  that  place  of  scripture  just  alluded 
to,  John  19,  31,]  when  Pilate  sent  the  captain  of  the 
watch,  that  was  stationed  to  guard  his  palace,  to  know 
of  me,  whether  Christ  were  already  dead,  as  there  was 
a  person  of  distinction,  a  rich  and  eminent  counsellor, 
who  was  obsequiously  and  humbly  praying,  that  the 
body  of  Christ,  might  be  delivered  to  him,  in  order  to 
its  being  interred,  with  what  his  friend  thought  religious 
decency.  And  as  soon  as  I  had  received  the  note  from 
Pilate,  by  the  hand  of  the  captain  of  his  guard,  another 
note  was  presented  to  me,  by  the  hand  of  a  servant  of 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  to  brake  their  legs,  I  went 
and  commanded  the  soldiers,  to  brake  all  their  legs  ;  so 
that  if  there  remained  the  least  vital  spark  of  animal 
life  in  either  of  the  three  malefactors,  the  solemn  work 
of  death  might  be  made  sure.  But,  please  this  wise 
and  intelligent  court>  as  I  went  before  the  soldiers,  who 
were  the  executioners  of  the  three  criminals,  I  saw  that 
animal  life  had  already  taken  its  final  departure  from 
the  Lody  of  Christ; — so  I  stayed  the  hand  of  the  sol- 
diers, from  breaking  the  bones  of  Christ,  having  the 
fullest  assurance  in  my  own  mind,  that  the  body  was 
dead  : — but  a  thought  struck  my  mind  at  that  moment, 
when  I  looked  at  the  body  of  Christ,  as  it  hung  on  the 
cross,  and  beheld  the  placid  innocency  of  his  counte- 
nance, and  the  deathly  calmness  of  his  whole  appear- 
ance ;  but  still,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
in  order  to  fully  comply  with  the  stamina,  as  well  as 
the  letter  of  the  governor's  inquiry,  about  the  certainty 
of  the  death  of  Christ,  [the  christian  will  find  this  idea 
confirmed,  by  looking  at  Mark,  1 5 — 44,]  I  gave  orders 
to  the  captain  of  the  band  of  soldiers,  who  had  a  spear 
in  his  hand,  to  pierce  the  left  side  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
so  that  it  might  with  more  facility  reach  and  pierce 
his  heart:  from  which  deathly  incision,  there  issued 
forth  all  the  blood  and  water  that  was  in  his  animal 


216  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

system.*  [The  christian  will  find  this  idea  fully  justi- 
fied, by  looking  at  John  19—32,  33,  34.]  This  being 
done,  and  the  legs  and  other  bones  of  the  other  two 
malefactors  being  broken,  I  ordered,  according  to 
Pilate's  request,  the  three  bodies  to  be  taken  down  from 
the  crosses :  and  being  presented  by  the  counsellor, 
with  an  order  from  Pilate,  written  by  his  own  hand,  I 
very  obsequiously  delivered  to  him  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ ;  and  then  retired  to  my  quarters,  believing 
this  solemn  business,  with  regard  to  the  death  of  Christ, 
forever  at  rest.  But,  in  this  sanguine  expectation  of 
your  prisoner,  he  was  shortly  after  disappointed :  for 
early  in  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day,  please  your 
learned  honours,  it  appeared  first  from  a  coindication 
of  the  acts  of  Caiaphas,  the  next  morning,  and  also  from 
the  most  indubitable  testimony  of  some  of  the  most  re- 
putable servants  of  Pilate's  household,  that  Caiaphas 
came  to  the  palace  of  the  governor,  in  company  with  a 
number  of  other  priests,  and  some  of  the  most  influen- 
tial of  the  pharisees  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  in- 
formed the  governor,  that  the  malefactor  called  Christ, 
that  had  been  crucified  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  Jewish 
week,  had  notoriously  asserted,  as  he  went  in  his  am- 
bulatory and  pedesterious  journies  throughout  the  juris- 
diction of  Pilate — that  is,  please  this  court,  the  land  of 
Judea — and  also,  in  the  temple  and  streets  of  Jerusa- 
lem, publicly  declaring  before  his  demise,  that  he  the 
said  Christ,  would  break  out  of  the  custom-house  of 
death,  on  the  third  day  ;  that  is,  please  this  court,  by 
dropping  his  figurative  style  and  allegorical  manner, 
that  he  appears  to  have  indulged  himself  in,  when  com- 
municatinoj  his  ideas  to  mankind.     Now  this  hiorh  and 

*  Physicians  may  say  they  never  saw  water  and  blood  on 
their  opening  the  body  of  a  dead  man,  who  was  at  his  demise 
in  a  healthy  state.  We  answer,  that  the  fluids  in  the  body  of 
Christ,  had  a  special  adaptation  to  produce  this  singular 
phenomena,  in  the  physical  economy  of  the  sinless  and  im- 
maculate  body  of  Christ — it  being  only  a  small  cog  of  the 
vast  miraculous  machinery. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


217 


philosophical  court  well  know,  that  not  only  military 
gentlemen,  but  all  other  persons  of  a  classical  educa- 
tion and  good  breeding,  very  seldom  make  use  of  a 
figurative  style,  in  colloquial  conversation. 

The  reader  may  find  the  scripture  that  justifies  the 
foregoing  plate  :  "  But  one  of  the  soldiers  with  a  spear 
pierced  his  side,  and  forthwith  came  thereout  blood  and 
water.  And  he  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and  his  record 
is  true ;  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that  ye 
might  believe.'^     John  19—34,  35. 

But,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and  jury 
of  this  court — to  proceed  with  what  Caiaphas  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews  said  to  Pilate,  about  the  boasting  of 
Christ,  in  simple  language: — I  will,  said  Christ,  arise 
from  the  dead  on  the  third  day ;  notwithstanding  that 


Mount  Cah-arvand  the  Sun  veiled  in  darkness  at  the  passion  of  Christ. 
And  the  Roman  soldiers  according  to  the  sanguinary  laws  of  that  nation, 
(which it  inflicted  on  its  slaves  only)  complete  the  work  of  death. 

No.  1.  A  soldier  piercing  the  left  side  of  Christ. 

Nos.  2  and  3.  Two  soldiers  with  iron  bars,  bi-eakingthe  bones  of  the  other 
malefactors. 

No.  4.  The  Centurion  directing  the  soldier  to  pierce  the  left  side  of  Christ. 

No.  5.  John  beholding  the  blocdy  deed. 

T 


218  CHRIST  REJECTEH. 

our  martial  law  and  military  discipline,  had  bound  him 
so  fast  in  the  dark  dungeon  of  death,  with  his  body- 
transfixed  to  the  walls  of  that  dreary  mansion,  by  the 
deathly  spear  of  one  of  my  soldiers. 

And,  as  I  said  before,  believing  the  bloody  tragedy 
to  be  over,  my  mind  appeared  to  be  at  rest.  But 
it  was  soon  roused  from  its  transient  military  slum- 
ber, by  a  note  which  Caiaphas  delivered  to  me ;  the 
which,  when  I  had  received  it  from  the  hand  of  the 
high  priest,  I  opened  the  same,  and  read  its  contents : 
when,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  I 
in  a  soliloquy  said.  If  that  be  the  case,  and  his  boasting 
be  of  that  altitude  of  character,  and  he  has  thus  cast 
the  toscin  of  defiance,  against  the  whole  military  prow- 
ass  of  the  civil  and  military  skill  of  my  country, 
when  I  said  to  myself,  If  one  man,  and  he  too  a  cru- 
cified and  dead  man,  is  to  take  the  garland  off  the 
bush  of  military  honour,  and  tarnish  the  high  wrought 
fame  of  our  country's  glory,  it  is  high  time  for  a 
Roman  officer  to  look  out  for  the  storm,  that  has 
threatened  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  civil  and 
martial  heavens  of  the  mighty  empire  of  Rome  \  When, 
please  the  court,  I  continued  the  soliloquous  parable  in 
my  own  mind,  and  said.  It  shall  not  be  for  the  want  of 
soldier-like  vigilance,  military  skill,  and  martial  dis- 
cipline on  my  part. 

So,  please  your  learned  honours,  I  w^ent  with  Caia- 
phas, the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  Avithout  any  hesi- 
tancy whatsoever,  to  the  garden,  where  the  sepul- 
chre was  located,  that  contained  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ,  taking  a  band  of  my  best  and  most  vali- 
ant soldiers  with  me.  And  w^hen  we  arrived  at 
the  garden,  Caiaphas  prayed  that  some  of  my  people 
should  remove  the  large  stone  from  off  the  entrance  of 
the  sepulchre,  so  as  to  fully  satisfy  him,  with  myself, 
that  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was  still  in  safe-keep- 
ing in  the  solemn  mansion  of  the  dead  ;  when  we  both 
went  down  and  saw  the  body  of  Christ,  and  examined 
it  minutely ;  and  saw  the  punctures,  from  the  crown  of 
thorns,  in  his  temples ;  the  excavated  channels,  also,  on 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  219 

his  scourged  back ;  and  the  ragged  print  of  the  nails 
in  his  hands  and  feet;  and  the  awful  gash,  which  the 
incision  of  the  spear  had  made  in  his  left  side. 

After  the  high  priest  and  myself  had  fully  satisfied 
ourselves  of  the  safety  of  that  very  body,  we  saw  on 
the  previous  day  crucified,  we  placed  all  the  little  sym- 
bols of  his  friend  Joseph's  kindness  and  attention,  to  his 
dead  body,  in  the  exact  sequence  we  found  them,  and 
w^ent  up  out  of  the  sepulchre  ;  when  we  found  by  that 
time,  that  the  governor  had  sent  his  private  secretary, 
with  the  royal  seal  of  the  empire  :  when  I  ordered  the 
stone,  which  was  very  large,  to  be  placed  over  the 
entrance  of  the  sepulchre,  and  1  then  took  the  seal  from 
the  hand  of  Pilate's  private  secretary,  and  sealed  the 
stone  over  the  sepulchre,  in  the  presence  of  Caiaphas, 
and  a  vast  number  of  his  chief  priests  and  Pharisees. 
This  being  done,  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  I  set  a  strong  watch  of  Roman  guards,  in  such 
a  careful  manner,  that  please  this  court,  I  should  not 
have  experienced  the  least  hesitancy,  in  consequence 
of  any  foreboding  fears  arising  in  my  mind,  to  have 
trusted  all  the  treasure  of  Caesar's  household,  with  his 
military  chest,  crown-jewels,  and  please  your  honours, 
my  sovereign's  life  also,  under  the  same  watch  and 
seal  of  state,  I  set  to  guard  the  sepulchre,  which  con- 
tained the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  When,  please 
your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  I  experienced  a  Roman  sensation  of 
pleasure  in  my  mind,  in  reflecting,  that  I  had  so  fully 
discharged  my  duty,  in  so  safely  mooring  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  on  the  old  quarantine  ground,  and  also 
securely  bounded  him  in  the  custom-house  of  death  ; 
fully  as  safe,  as  ever  the  conspirators  in  the  senate-house 
of  Rome,  had  bound  the  poor  cadaverous  body  of  Julius 
Caesar,  in  the  old  iron-bound  prison-ship  of  death  : 
which  has  never  been  known  to  this  day,  to  lose  one  of 
its  bounded  deposits,  or  suffer  one  of  its  prisoners  to 
escape. 

And  having,  please  your  learned  honours,  executed 
«iy  orders  with  all  the  mental,  physical  and  martial 


220  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

skill,  and  capabilities,  which  at  that  time  were  under 
my  control,  and  I  had  given  the  royal  guards  the  most 
imperative  charge  to  do  their  full  share  of  duty,  like 
brave  fellows,  I  and  Caiaphas  came  out  of  the  gar- 
den, where  his  theological  carriage  was  in  readiness  to 
receive  him ; — and  having  given  him  the  etiquette  of 
the  evening,  we  parted  ;  he  to  his  palace  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  temple,  and  I  to  my  quarters — fully  believing  all 
were  safe. 

But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges 
of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  it  came  to  pass, 
that  early  the  next  morning,  the  watch  went  into  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,    and  had  a  pious   interview  with 
Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews.     After  which, 
they  came  out  of  the  city,  and  went  and  reported  to 
their  companions  in  arms,  that  a  few  Galilean  fisher- 
men, called  by  some,  the  disciples  of  Christ, — and  only, 
please  this  w^ise  and  intelligent  court,  eleven  in  number 
of  the  poor  wretches,  came  while  some  saturnine  furies 
had  overcharged  the  laws  of  nature  with  a  dense  and 
dark  atmosphere,  highly  pregnated  wdth  some  somnif- 
erous  or   sleepy   gas,    which  soon  spread  a  nebulous 
atmosphere  over  the  garden,  where  the  sepulchre  that 
contained  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was  located — 
and  that,   when   this  strange  and  sleepy  phenomena 
came  over  the  garden,  it  caused  the  whole  of  the  guards 
to  locate  themselves  co-ordinately  on  the  earth.     And 
that  it  was  during  this  mysterious  delinquency  of  their 
military  duty,  that  those  subdolous  disciples  went  off 
with  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

Thus,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges 
of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  I  have 
given  in  evidence,  all  that  has  come  to  pass,  to  the  best 
of  my  knowledge,  of  an  oflicial  and  positive  character, 
respecting  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ. 

But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  I  would 
ask  to  be  indulged,  if  it  is  not  entirely  incompatible 
with  what  I  have  always  been  led  to  view  the  unalien- 


^CHRIST  REJECTED*  221 

able  rights  of  a  Roman  citizen — which  privilege,  as  an 
officer  of  its  army,  I  experience  it  this  day  to  be  my 
duty  to  claim ;  that  is,  to  give  in  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  my  private  views  of  the  special  acts  of  some 
of  the  persons  and  things,  which  took  place  at  the  time 
that  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was  first  missing  out 
of  the  sepulchre.  Therefore,  if  it  will  not  entirely  pro- 
voke the  displeasure  of  this  court,  and  is  not  irrelevant 
to  the  legal  axioms  and  dignity  of  this  high  tribunal, 
and  the  moral  accountability  of  my  aflirmation,  as  a 
witness  at  its  bar,  I  shall  proceed  ;  and  if  not,  1  am 
willing  to  stand  corrected.  When  the  chief  judge  sig- 
nified to  the  centurion,  that  the  court  and  Magna  Charta 
of  Roman  law^  most  assuredly  grants  a  defendant  the 
legal  privilege,  to  express  his  views  of  persons  and 
things,  that  have  any  collateral  bearing  on  the  case 
pending  at  the  bar  of  any  of  our  courts,  of  either  civil 
or  martial  law.  The  centurion  then  went  on  to  make 
the  following  remarks,  by  relating  to  the  court,  that 
an  onerous  coindication  passed  before  his  view,  por- 
tentous of  great  distress,  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  on 
the  day  of  the  reported  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the 
crucifiedbody  of  Christ,  or  while  that  disgraceful  cloud 
was  passing  over  the  fame  of  the  Roman  arms,  and 
constuperating  the  military  laurels  of  his  country's 
glory.  That  is,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
of  this  solemn  court  of  law  and  inquest,  I  observed  a 
few  collateral  circumstances,  that  were  connected  with 
this  shameful  theological  deterioratingphenomena,  which 
to  this  day  has  not,  like  the  phoenix,  arose  with  that 
soaring  bird  of  fabulous  fame,  out  of  the  ashes  of  their 
military  disgrace,  that  is,  the  strange  and  unheard  of 
aberrance  from  the  path  of  duty,  by  Roman  soldiers, 
who  I  placed  as  guards  at  the  sepulchre,  that  contain- 
ed the  body  of  Christ, 

Now  the  persons  and  things,  and  other  collateral 
circumstances,  that  I  wish  to  call  your  learned  honours 
attention  unto,  are  as  follows  :  that  I  very  patiently 
waited  at  my  military  post  all  that  day,  when  the  re- 
port first  came  out  about  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre 

t2 


222  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

of  the  body  of  Christ,  expecting  every  moment  to  re- 
ceive the  most  imperative  orders  from  Pontius  Pilate, 
the  Roman  governor,  and  also  some  special  communi- 
cation from  Caiaphas,  the  then  noted  high  priest  of  the 
Jews  in  Jerusalem,  to  have  the  subject  of  the  sacrileg- 
ious robbery  of  the  sepulchre  brought  to  light,  and 
have  all  the  guards,  with  the  captain  of  the  watch,  im- 
mediately arrested  and  put  in  strong  hold,  in  order  to 
be  brought  to  trial  at  Pilate's  judgment  seat ;  so  that, 
after  a  legal  and  martial  examination,  if  they  should 
be  found  guilty,  of  so  disgraceful  a  delinquency  of  theiy 
military  and  soldier-like  duty,  to  have  them  all  put 
immediately  to  death,  according  to  the  well  known 
laws  and  strict  martial  discipline  of  the  Roman  army. 
But  may  it  please  this  court,  after  I  had  patiently 
waited  the  whole  of  that  day,  on  which  the  report  first 
went  out  into  the  world — and  if  it  is  not  irrelevant  in 
the  view  o^  the  court,  I  will  add,  that  1  have  obse- 
quiously waited  to  this  day,  and  have  not  received  the 
least  order  or  command,  either  from  Pilatp  the  gover- 
nor, or  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews ;  nor  any 
communication  either  by  word  or  letter.  And  indulge 
me  further  to  inform  your  honours,  that  although  my 
official  duty  has  oftentimes,  subsequent  to  this  distress- 
ing catastrophe,  called  me  into  the  immediate  presence 
of  Pilate,  yet  his  excellency  the  governor,  to  the  best 
of  my  knowledge  and  recollection  of  the  case,  has  never 
once  undulated  my  audibility,  with  a  single  word  on 
this  dark  and  mysterious  occurrence,  which  had  spread 
its  sombre  canopy,  over  the  honour  and  character  of  the 
governor,  and  the  priest ;  that  is,  please  your  honours, 
in  my  view  of  the  whole  affair,  in  their  not  demanding 
an  immediate  trial  of  the  guards,  at  a  court  martial. 
But,  may  it  please  your  honours,  since  I  have  so  very 
unceremoniously  trod  on  the  toes  of  the  patience  of  the 
court,  I  shall  take  on  me  to  gratuitously  place  another 
small  coindication  of  their  conduct  on  that  day,  which 
was  as  follows  :  the  next  day  after  the  reported  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  I  sent 
my  servant  for  the  captain  of  the  watch  to  come  unto 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  223 

my  tent ;  when  I  put  some  close  military  questions  to 
the  fellow,  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  how  it  came  to  pass, 
that  he,  and  the  whole  of  the  guards  under  his  com- 
mand, should  all  fall,  as  he  had  reported,  simultaneous- 
ly to  sleep,  after  receiving  so  pressing:  and  solemn  a 
charge  from  me,  in  the  presence  of  Caiaphas,  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  to  do  their  duty  like  good  soldiers 
and  brave  men.  When,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours,  to  my  utter  surprise,  the  captain  of  the  watch 
gave  me  the  following  statistical  account,  of  what  he 
and  his  comrades  believed  to  be  the  agency,  by  which 
this  disgraceful  occurrence  had  overcast  with  a  dark 
cloud,  the  glory  of  their  military  character ; — when  he 
informed  me,  that  a  number  of  aerial  beings,  from  some 
distant  clime,  came  suddenly  down  on  the  garden,  and 
so  entirely  dismantled  their  persons  of  their  five  senses, 
that  is,  they  were  deprived  of  their  vision,  audibility, 
tangability,  of  the  use  of  their  alfactory  nerves,  and 
also  of  taste.  So  that  this  aerial  agency  cast  them  all 
on  the  earth,  as  blind,  deaf  and  unfeeling  men — entirely 
deprived  of  all  the  functions  of  this  present  life ; — and 
in  a  word,  said  the  captain  of  the  watch,  we  were  all 
smitten  to  the  earth,  as  dead  rnen  on  the  field  of  battle. 
And  when  this  mysterious  dispensation  passed  from 
over  our  persons,  we  opened  our  eyes,  and  found  that 
all  our  natural  senses  had  returned ;  when  we  arose  on 
our  feet,  and  saw  that  the  large  stone  was  removed 
from  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre,  and  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  taken  out  of  the  same.  And  this,  sir,  is 
all  that  I  can  inform  you,  respecting  this  clandestine 
surreption,  on  the  old  custom  house  of  death,  over  which 
you  placed  me  and  my  comrades  in  arms. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
to  indulge  me  to  relate,  that  when  this  spectre-ridden 
captain  of  the  watch,  had  finished  in  my  audibility 
this  ghostly  relation  of  the  whole  of  this  disgace- 
ful  affair,  it  filled  me  with  a  kind  of  repulsive  displeas- 
ure at  the  revolting  idea,  that  Roman  soldiers  should  be- 
come the  recreant  slaves  of  such  a  religious  efferves- 
cence, so  as  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  diverted  from  the 


224  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

full  discharge  of  their  military  duty,  from  some  tran- 
sient superstitious  impression,  of  spectres  flying  over 
the  garden.  Nevertheless,  please  your  honours,  this 
subaltern  officer  told  this  ghostly  tale,  or  rather  spectre 
anecdote,  with  so  much  superstitious  grace,  and  at  the 
same  time  with  such  an  air  of  Roman-like  sincerity  in 
his  countenance,  that  I  could  not,  with  all  the  risibility 
I  was  master  of,  laugh  the  spectre -ridden  fellow  out  of 
his  army  of  flying  ghosts,  that  he  so  strenuously  asserted 
had  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 
So,  please  your  honours,  I  let  the  poor  superstitious 
subaltern  go  free  for  the  time ;  still  anxiously  waiting, 
for  Pontius  Pilate  the  governor,  and  Caiaphas  the  higli 
priest  of  the  Jews'  pleasure,  before  I  proceeded  any 
further  in  the  examination  of  the  captain  of  the  watch, 
and  his  comrades  in  arms. 

May  it  please  this  court  to  exercise  its  patience  for 
a  few  moments  longer,  and  admit  the  relevancy  of 
another  idea,  as  the  last  collateral  incident  of  that  day, 
when  the  body  of  Christ  was  missing  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre ;  which  is  as  follows  :  As  my  tent  was  pitched  in 
a  large  field,  that  lie  off  the  main  road,  which  led  from 
Caiaphas'  palace  to  that  of  the  palace  of  Pilate,  I  was 
involuntarily  led  to  view  the  conduct  and  movements 
of  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  how  he  identi- 
fied himself  with  Pilate,  throughout  the  morning  of  that 
day,  when  the  report  first  came  out,  that  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  had  eloped  by  some  means — which  at 
the  time,  really  seemed  to  astound  and  fill  all  Jerusalem 
with  a  tremulous  sensation  of  fear  and  alarm ;  which 
all  the  sanitary  rules  of  that  day  could  not  suppress. 
But  please  this  court,  be  that  as  it  may ; — I  observed 
that  the  theological  carriage  of  his  holiness,  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest,  was  passing  and  repassing  from  his 
palace  to  the  palace  of  his  excellency,  the  governor, 
throughout  the  best  part  of  the  morning  of  that  inaus- 
picious day  ;  so  that  in  consequence  of  his  holiness' 
carriage  driving  off*  at  a  very  early  hour  that  morning, 
which  please  the  court  led  me  to  conclude,  that  the 
eivil  and  ecclesiastical  business  between  them,  must  be 


^    -»     CHRIST  REJECTED.  225 

of  primary  importance,  to  cause  such  a  close  and  in- 
teresting conclajv.e  between  their  excellencies  ;  so  that, 
please  your  learnt  honours,  the  judges  of  this  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  'ih^  high  priest  of  the  Jews'  conduct 
throughout  the  forepart  of  that  day,  led  your  prisoner 
to  seriously  forecasts  in  his  mind,  that  the  reported  rob- 
bery of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
which  had  caused  so  much  buzzing  in  the  civil  and 
theological  hives  iir  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  was  of  that 
civil  and  theological  character,  and  at  the  same  time 
of  that  mysterious  and  marvellous  nature,  as  appeared 
to  me  to  belong  entirely  to  a  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
state  of  things  ;  which  led  me  to  draw  this  soldier-like 
conclusion,  that  my  calling  had  nothing  to  do  with  such 
lofty  matters.  So  that  I  experienced  a  state  of  neutrality 
in  my  mind,  which  led  me  to  be  fully  reconciled  to  let 
the  dark  and  mysterious  subject  of  the  robbery  of  the 
sepulchre,  remain  in  better  hands  and  wiser  heads,  as 
it  related  to  moral  and  metaphysical  subjects,  than 
mine.  Therefore,  please  this  court,  my  duty  led  me  to 
draw  this  inference,  that  since  the  recreant  conduct  of 
the  guards  was  so  blended  with  the  interest  and  policy 
of  their  excellencies,  Pilate  and  his  holiness,  Caiaphas, 
that  my  straight  line  of  military  duty  was  to  mind  my 
ow^n  profession,  and  continue  to  remain  neutral ;  and 
strictly  observe  a  profound  silence;  which,  may  it  please 
your  honours  the  judges,  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  I  have  strictly  observed  to  this  day. 

But  in  concluding  my  testimony,  may  it  please  your 
honours  the  judges,  to  indulge  me  to  say,  that  whenever 
1  have  seriously  taken  an  excursive  survey  of  the  whole 
coindication  and  character  of  the  persons  and  things^ 
that  had  the  least  collateral  association  with  the  report- 
ed robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  and  the  sleeping  of  the 
Roman  guards,  I  have  ever  since  that  distressing  affair 
took  place,  been  led  to  view  this  sombre  catastrophe, 
as  a  deteriorating  effect,  arising  from  some  cause  to 
military  men  unknown,  that  had  taken  place  in  the 
wax  and  honey  of  the  civil  and  theological  hives,  that 


i 


^126  CHRIST  REJECTED.  ^ 

had  ever  been  agitated  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  of 
which  Pilate  and  Caiaphas  were  the  king  bees. 

The  centurion  having  given  in  his  evidence  to  this 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  sat  down  and  said  no 
more. 

After  which  the  states-attorney  rose,  and  with  his 
usual  eloquence,  thus  addressed  the  court :  wherein  his 
learned  honour  very  ingeniously  endeavoured  to  convey 
down  the  lightening-rod  of  that  oscillatory  member, 
called  in  our  vernacular  vocabulary  the  tongue,  all  the 
deleterious  electrical  fluid,  from  all  the  little  dense  and 
sable  clouds,  which  the  crown  barrisiter's  keen  foren- 
sick  eye,  professed  to  see  in  the  delinquency  of  the 
Centurion's  duty,  in  not  guarding  the  sepulchre  with 
that  military  strictness  and  martial  faithfulness,  which 
he  conceived  the  nature  of  the  case  demanded  at  the 
centurion's  hands.  But  it  came  to  pass,  that  all  his 
forensick  turmoil  and  oratorial  labour,  to  converge  the 
blame  of  the  loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of 
the  sepulchre,  on  the  head  of  the  centurion,  made  little 
or  no  lasting  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  court ;  so 
that  the  states-general's  legal  efforts  and  apparent  hercu- 
lean strength  of  sophisticating  reasoning,  did  little  or 
no  execution,  against  the  colossean  pedestal  of  Roman 
honour,  on  which  this  bold  and  intrepid  officer,  stood 
at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  in  the 
whole  of  the  military  panoply,  quite  inexpugnable  to 
the  whole  of  the  states-attorney's  deleterious  charges. 
When  his  learned  honour  had  ceased  his  labouring 
thunder  cloud,  he  sat  down. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  crown  barrister  had 
taken  his  seat,  that  the  chief  judge  arose  and  adjourned 
the  court  to  meet  in  the  same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


227 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  plea  and  defence  of  a  Roman  counsellor,  in  the  behalf 
of  the  centurion.  It  being  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  trial 
of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucifed  body  of 
Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  met  at  an  early 
hour,  pursuant  to  adjournment.  And  when  the  usual 
formalities  were  gone  through  with,  and  the  names  of 
the  jurors  called,  affirmed  and  had  taken  their  seats  in 
the  jury-box,  that  the  grand  marshal  of  the  empire,  with 
the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  brought  in  the  centurion,  and 
placed  him  at  the  bar.  The  court  being  called  to  order, 
the  centurion's  counsel,  who  was  a  very  eminent  bar- 
rister of  Roman  law,  (see  No.  3,  on  the  plate,)  rose  and 
said — May  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges 
of  this  court,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,   with   all 


Figure  No.  The  five  judges  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

No.  2.  The  states-attorney  taking  his  notes. 

No.  3.  The  centurion's  counsel  pleading  his  cause. 

No.  4.  The  grand  marshal  of  the  empire. 

No.  5,  The  centurion  in  the  criminal's  box. 

No.  6.  The  high  sheriff  of  Rome. 

No.  7.  The  twelve  jurymen  panelled. 


228  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

the  gentlemen  who  this  day  constitute  the  legal  elements 
of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  I  shall  gratuitous- 
ly take  it  for  granted,  that  the  good  sense  of  this  court 
is,  or  at  least  out  to  be  well  aware,  that  the  ground  of 
argument  in  which  I  am,  from  the  imperious  law  of 
necessity,  drove  on  this  day  to  plead  the  cause  of  my 
client,  the  centurion — is,  let  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  this  court  make  the  best  it  can  of  my  legal  location; 
I  say,  it  is  but  a  sandy  arena,  that  is,  please  your  hon- 
ours, I  have  no  positive  lootimony  to  place  before  the 
bar  of  this  court  in  his  case ;  so  that  the  inference  is 
this  : — I  shall  have  to  do  as  the  mariners,  when  driven 
by  contrary  winds,  among  rocks  and  shoals ;  that  is, 
steer  my  way  through  them  in  the  best  manner  my 
volatile  and  sandy  resources  will  supply  me  with  the 
means  of  pleading  my  client's  cause.  And  as  I  pre- 
sume your  honours  clearly  see,  that  all  the  evidence  I 
can  procure  in  the  case  of  the  centurion,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  must  be  drawn  by  a  venturous  levy  on  the 
meagre  and  beggardly  elements,  of  the  mere  collateral 
circumstances  of  the  case.  And,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours  the  judges  and  the  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  these  things  being  thus  premised,  it  of  course 
leads  me  to  believe,  that  the  legal  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge of  your  honours,  will  expect  great  conciseness  in 
my  remarks,  at  the  bar  of  this  court  to  day,  for  the 
want  of  sufficient  legal  matter,  as  a  lawyer,  to  work 
upon,  in  the  behalf  of  the  innocency  of  my  client.  I 
shall,  I  humbly  trust,  experience  it  to  be  my  duty,  to 
endeavour  as  much  as  lieth  in  my  power,  to  cause  this 
court  to  realise  its  expectations  of  my  professional 
duty,  so  far  as  it  shall  stand  legally  associated  with 
a  conscientious  discharge  of  the  duty,  which  I  owe 
to  the  cause  and  interest  of  my  client.  Therefore,  may- 
it  please  your  honours,  in  entering  on  the  defence  and 
justification  of  my  client's  person  and  character,  with 
this  narrow  line  of  demarcation,  and  dangerous  straits 
before  me,  I  shall  reduce  the  plea  of  the  justification  of 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  to  a  mere  epitome,  which  I  shall 
first  venture  to  draw  from  some  of  the  bright  clouds  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  229 

the  national  glory  of  the  Romans,  in  the  reign  of  Tibe- 
rius Caesar ;  and  secondly,  from  the  brilliant  chariot  of 
military  honour,  that  was  flying  over  the  Roman  army, 
of  which  my  client,  the  centurion,  was  an  ofiicer.  With 
these  two  ideas,  as  my  legal  text,  I  shall  endeavour  to 
illustrate,  with  as  much  conciseness  as  my  limited  pow- 
ers of  argument  are  master  of.  Therefore,  please  your 
honours,  I  shall  begin  with  the  first  idea  of  our  legal 
text ;  the  glory  of  the  Romans  at  the  time  of  the  rob- 
bery of  the  sepulchre. 

Now  your  honours  all  well  know,  that  the  Roman 
empire  had  almost  arrived  at  the  meridian  splendour  of 
its  national  glory,  and  the  plenary  altitude  of  its  mili- 
tary fame,  in  the  Augustean  age.     And  it  is  also  noto- 
rious to  the  whole  world,  as  well  as  to  your  honours, 
that  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  days  of  Tiberius,  spread 
itself  over  a  vast  majority  of  the  civilized  and  barba- 
rous nations  of  the  earth;  and  had  by  its  conquests, 
almost  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  into  the  sea  of 
oblivion,  the  few  embers  and  ashes,  which  the  ravages 
of  time  had  spared,  for  many  ages,  of  the  Assyrean, 
Chaldean,  Median,   Persian  and  Grecian  monarchies. 
To  this  idea,  please  this  court,  I   shall  add   the  other 
head  of  my  text ;  that  is,  the  discipline,  and  strictness, 
throughout  the  martial  legions,  in  the  most  distant  pro- 
vinces of  the  Roman  empire,  were  such,  at  the  very 
time  these  eleven  ignorant  Galilean  fishermen  made,  as 
report  goes,  this  marvellous  surreption  on  the  old  cus- 
tom-house of  death ;  or,  please  your  honours,  by  drop- 
ping my  allegory,  they  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ ;  and  bid  such  open  and  noto- 
rious defiance,  to  the  whole  power,  both  of  the  civil  and 
military  laws  of  the  triumphant  empire  of  Rome.  And 
now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  high  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  when  we  seriously  reflect  on  the  insignifi- 
cant number  of  this  marauding  banditti,  that  is,  there 
were  only  eleven  of  these  recreant  slaves  of  fear;  who, 
if  reports  are  in  the  least  to  be  trusted,  ran  away  from 
their  master,  as  soon  as  the  officers  of  civil  justice  had 

u 


230  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

laid  their  hands  on  him  !  That  these  men  should  come 
and  panic  strike  with  fear,  a  strong  watch  of  Roman 
soldiers,  placed  by  my  client  over  the  sepulchre,  and 
go  off  with  the  dead  body  of  Christ,  is  indeed  more  mar- 
vellous, than  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world!  But,  be 
that  as  it  may,  the  light  which  I  daily  receive  from  some 
of  the  bright  clouds  of  common  sense,  leads  me  to  say  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  that  the  sealing  of  the  stone,  and 
the  setting  of  such  a  strong  watch,  was  of  that  martial 
character,  that  Caesar  himself  would  not  have  hesita- 
ted, for  one  moment,  to  place  the  civil  exchequer  of  his 
empire,  his  military  chest,  with  his  household  treasure 
and  crown  jewels,  [as  has  been  already  said  in  this 
court,  by  my  client,  when  he  gave  in  his  evidence,]  with 
Caesar's  own  life  also,  with  the  most  undeviating  assu- 
rance, under  the  care  and  guardianship  of  such  a  watch, 
that  my  client,  the  Centurion  at  the  bar,  set  to  guard 
the  crucified  body  of  this  dead  man ;  which,  please  this 
court,  my  client,  according  to  the  evidence  he  gave  in 
yesterday  at  the  bar,  in  the  audibility  of  your  honours. 
But  notwithstanding  his  assiduous  attention  to  his  mili- 
tary duty,  he  is  this  day  arraigned  as  a  delinquent  at 
the  bar  of  his  country.  Therefore,  I  shall  unfeignedly 
pray  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  and  gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  to  be  indulged  with  the  patience  of  this 
court. — And  first  permit  me  to  observe,  that  the  seal- 
ing the  stone  at  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre,  and  the 
stationing  such  military  protection  as  the  royal  guards, 
which  my  client,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  gave  in  evi- 
dence, that  he  himself  placed  at  the  sepulchre,  to  guard 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  was,  please  this  court,  of 
that  strong  and  warlike  character,  that  I  shall  confi- 
dently presume,  no  one  in  this  court,  or  of  the  whole 
world  of  rational  beings,  I  am  humbly  led  to  forecast  in 
my  mind,  would  not  even  for  one  fleeting  moment,  have 
hesitated  to  have  trusted  his  life  and  crown  under  such 
safe  keeping.  But  in  order  to  unite  the  thread  of  my 
ideas,  and  resume  the  course  of  my  argument,  before 
your  learned  honours — I  ask,  Is  there  a  solitary  char- 
acter in  this  court  of  law  and  inquest  this  day,  that 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  231 

would  have  hesitated,  for  one  moment,  to  have  trusted 
his  life  under  the  care  of  such  bold  and  vigilant  pro- 
tectors, as  the  centurion  placed  over  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ?  From  which,  please  this  court,  I  am  led  to 
draw  this  conlusion :  and  although  I  only  stand  on  a 
postulatory  pedestal,  when  I  make  the  declaration,  yet 
I  shall  consider  it  as  a  presumptive  sign  of  my  client's 
innocency.  I  therefore  pray  this  court,  to  benignly 
indulge  me,  while  I  shall  briefly  remark,  that  the  pris- 
oner at  the  bar,  was  at  the  time  of  this  reported  inva- 
sion on  the  strong  hold  of  death,  an  officer  of  the  Roman 
army  ;  which  at  that  time,  with  the  prowess  of  its  bat- 
tering rams,  were  beating  the  walls  and  bulwarks  of  the 
cities,  and  other  strong  holds,  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
into  dust :  and,  as  I  have  already  observed  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  my  client,  the  centurion's  nation,  had 
almost  reached  the  zenith  of  its  martial  glory  ;  with, 
please  your  honours  the  judges  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  a  prostrate  world,  bowing  like  a  tottering  wall 
of  a  besieged  city,  in  obsequious  submission  at  the  very 
sight  of  the  unfurled  and  flowing  banners,  from  the 
lofty  standards  of  the  numerous  legions  of  the  Roman 
army,  that  had  spread  its  conquests  far  and  wide,  over 
the  barbarous  and  civilized  nations  of  the  earth.  I  say, 
please  your  learned  honours,  the  very  sight  of  the  flow- 
ing eagles,  of  the  triumphant  army  of  the  Roman  empire, 
panic  struck,  the  lesser  and  feeble  nations  of  the  earth; 
just  as,  when  an  old  lion  roareth,  when  hungering  after 
his  prey ;  when  the  thunder  of  his  voice  flies  off"  in  an 
undulatory  circle,  and  gives  a  tremulous  sensation  for 
many  miles  round,  in  consequence  of  the  intonation 
of  his  terrific  voice; — so  that  the  weaker  animals 
scarcely  know  which  way  to  flee  for  safety. 

This  is,  please  the  court,  a  faint  picture  of  the  mili- 
tary prowess  and  terror  of  the  Roman  arms,  at  the 
time  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was,  by  the  high  priest 
of  the  Jews,  Caiaphas,  and  the  Romon  governor,  Pon- 
tius Pilate,  put  under  the  care  of  my  client.  And  per- 
mit me  still,  as  counsel  for  the  defendant,  who  is  a 
prisoner  this  day  in  durance  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  to 


232  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

crave  its  indulgence  to  my  mode  and  manner  of  plead- 
ing my  client's  cause,  while  at  the  same  time  I  humbly 
hope,  that  I  shall  not  be  viewed  by  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  over  the  sad  loss  of  the  dead  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  strong  hold  of  death,  as  in  anywise  impugn- 
ing the  wisdom  and  forensick  knowledge  of  this  court, 
while  I  am,  for  a  few  moments,  endeavouring  to  pre- 
sent the  exercise  of  the  centurion's  mind,  by  placing 
before  the  court,  what  your  honours  will  gratuitously 
admit,  must  have  been  the  natural  forebodings  of  my 
client's  mind,  while  all  those  sombre  clouds  of  future 
consequences  presented  themselves  to  his  view ;  and 
while  these,  with  his  own  personal  responsibilities  w^ere 
passing  over  his  official  mind,  as  an  officer  of  the  Roman 
army. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  honours,  the  first  ex- 
ercise of  the  prisoner's  mind,  if  the  court  has  the  charity 
to  grant  my  client  the  possession  of  a  state  of  sanity, 
when  the  body  of  Christ  was  placed  under  his  care  and 
protection,  which  I  believe,  the  court  will  not  deny 
this  Roman  officer  so  small  a  natural  boon ;  that  is, 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentle- 
men of  the  jury,  that  my  client  was  of  sound  mind, 
when  the  body  of  Christ  was  so  solemnly  placed  in  his 
hands,  to  take  special  care  of  it — only,  for  the  short 
space  of  three  days !  I  therefore  pray  the  whole  court, 
to  take  a  piercing  view,  of  the  prisoner  before  its  bar, 
and  see  if  it  can  discover,  in  the  whole  portrait  of  his 
countenance,  and  lineaments  of  his  features,  the  least 
coindication  that  will  lead  this  high  and  impartial 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  draw  so  unfavourable  a 
conclusion,  with  respect  to  my  client's  deficiency,  in 
either  his  physical  or  mental  capabilities,  so  as  to  dis- 
qualify him  from  being  a  fit  and  suitable  person,  to  take 
the  onerous  charge  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
loaded  with  the  massy  chains  of  death — and  that  only 
for  three  days  ! 

When  a  profound  silence  pervaded  the  court  for  some 
moments — and  every  eye  in  court  converged  the  whole 
strength  of  its  vision  on  the  centurion  !  The  chief  judge 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  233 

then  rose  and  stated  to  the  court,  that  every  lineament 
and  feature  in  the  bold  and  martial  countenance  of  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  bespoke  not  only  a  state  of  sanity, 
but  that  the  index  of  the  centurion's  countenance,  mani- 
fested at  the  bar  of  this  impartial  court — which  is  in 
search  of  truth,  and  has  no  desire  to  treat  the  all-im- 
portant subject  of  eternal  truth  with  that  laconick  eti- 
quette, that  Pilate  dispensed  the  subject  of  truth  with, 
when  Christ  stood  bound  before  his  judgment  seat. 
[For  a  more  perfect  illustration  of  Pilate's  short  mode 
of  reflecting  on  the  elements  of  truth,  we  refer  the 
christian  reader  to  John  18 — 37,  38 :  "  Pilate  therefore 
said  unto  him,  Art  thou  a  king?"  "Then  Jesus  answer- 
ed. Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.  To  this  end  was  I 
born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I 
should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth  :  every  one  that  is 
of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice."  Pilate  said  unto  Christ, 
"  What  is  truth?''  but  he  did  not  wait  the  answ^er: 
When  the  judge  observed,  that  the  ultimate  end  in  view, 
in  bringing  this  dolorous  and  mysterious  cause  into 
court,  was  not  merely  to  ask  the  solitary  question. 
What  is  truth  ?  and  then  with  a  careless  urbanity  of 
manners  give  it  the  indefinite  go-by.] 

Now,  please  this  court,  the  paramount  object  we 
have  in  view,  in  throwing  of  the  cause  of  the  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre,  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  into 
court,  is,  that  we  consider  it  as  the  colossus  on  which 
all  revealed  religion,  and  the  immortality  of  the  whole 
race  of  the  human  family  onerously  rests. — We,  there- 
fore shall  not  be  so  overcharged  w^ith  such  exces- 
sive urbanity  of  manners,  nor  so  very  laconically 
sparing  of  our  words,  as  to  merely  ask  the  all-impor- 
tant question,  and  leave  the  same  with  the  silent  mum- 
mies, wdio  lie  entombed  in  one  of  the  pyramids  of  ancient 
Egypt,  to  response  in  a  silent  soliloquy  to  his  sleepy 
brethren,  in  those  massy  urns  of  the  dead,  for  the  echo  or 
rather  the  repercussive  sound,  to  be  forever  flying  round 
the  dark  and  hollow  dome ;  so  that  the  answer  to  What 
is  truth  ?  might  never  reach  the  audibility  of  the  living. 
No,  may  it  please  this  court,  the  object  of  this  trial  is, 

v2 


234  CHKIST  REJECTED. 

I  trust,  to  follow  the  very  excellent  advice  of  a  certain 
author,  that  is  to  dig  deep,  and  lay  the  foundation  of 
our  investigation  on  the  rock  of  truth ;  if  it  is  to  be 
found  in  this  our  mundane  dispensation;  that  is,  whether 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was,  or  was  not,  stolen  out 
of  the  sepulchre.  When  the  judge  continued  his  re- 
marks on  the  sanity  of  the  centurion's  mind,  and  said: 
that  the  prisoner,  in  giving  in  his  testimony  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  not  only  evinced  a  sane  mind,  but  that 
the  scientific  culture  of  it  was  of  that  elevation,  which 
made  it  manifest,  that  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  hear- 
ing him,  must  be  convinced  in  their  minds,  that  the 
centurion  had  passed  the  line  of  mediocrity ;  and  is 
a  person  of  no  small  share  of  knowledge,  of  both  men 
and  things.  When  the  judge  resumed  his  seat  on  the 
bench,  and  the  counsel  for  the  centurion  rose  and  con- 
tinued his  ratiocination,  or  law  parable,  in  defence  of 
his  client. 

May  it  please  this  court  to  indulge  me  with  the  privi- 
lege, to  ask  again,  in  order  to  unite  my  former  ideas 
with  those  that  may  follow.  What  must  have  been  my 
client's  natural  exercise  of  mind,  while  the  military 
glory  of  the  Roman  army,  and  the  martial  fame  of  his 
country'^  arms,  with  his  own  civil  and  military  accoun- 
tability to  his  sovereign,  Tiberius,  and  his  country's 
laws,  were  passing  in  solemn  prospective  before  his 
view  ?  Why,  please  your  honours,  it  must  have  most 
powerfully  awakened  in  my  client's  mind,  the  prisoner 
in  durance  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  every  martial  sen- 
sibility of  a  soldier;  every  noble  principle  of  a  Roman 
citizen,  as  well  as  a  man  of  honour  and  an  officer  in 
the  conquering  armies  of  the  Roman  empire,  to  do  his 
duty  in  the  most  plenary  sense  of  the  word.  Now  may 
it  please  this  court,  these  things  stood  like  a  col- 
ossus in  the  relievo  of  my  client,  the  centurion's  honour 
and  professional  duty  ;  and  also,  as  I  have  just  stated, 
in  the  audibility  of  your  honours  and  the  jury,  that 
these  high  considerations,  thus  presenting  in  vivid  pros- 
pectus to  the  mind  of  the  centurion,  the  high  respon- 
sibility of  his  moral,  civil,   and  military  reputation, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  235 

standing  before  him  as  a  lofty  beacon  on  the  summit  of 
a  soldier's  honour — saying  to  the  prisoner  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  in  the  voice  of  admonition,  Do  not  tarnish 
the  brilliant  laurels  of  your  country's  fame,  nor  the  high 
wrought  glory  of  its  arms,  by  any  recreant  conduct  on 
the  part  of  my  client,  the  centurion,  so  as  to  draw  down 
the  nebulous  shades  of  constuperating  disgrace,  on  the 
blood  bought  blessings  of  his  country's  glory. 

This  view,  please  this  court,  which  my  professional 
duty  has  led  me  this  day  to  take,  with  I  trust,  becom- 
ing deference  to  both  the  wisdom  and  forensick  know- 
ledge which  it  possesses  of  men  and  things,  as  it  were 
involuntarily  emboldening  me,  as  the  counsel  for  the  de- 
fendant, to  fearlessly  venture  to  place  this  conclusion 
before  the  bar  of  this  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
and  say,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  it  were  both  mentally, 
morally  and  physically,  and  indulge  me  to  add,  honour- 
ably impossible,  for  my  client  to  have  possessed  by  all 
the  beacons,  and  other  warnings  raised  on  the  mount- 
ains of  a  soldier  honour — and  I  am  almost  ready  to 
gratuitously  aver,  that  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
this  court,  fully  flows  into  these  sententious  remarks,  and 
say  w^ith  me  this  day,  without  the  least  discrepancy 
in  our  views — that  under  all  the  collateral  circumstan- 
ces of  the  case,  in  which  the  centurion  was  surrounded, 
for  him  to  have  overlooked  so  many  onerous  responsi- 
bilities ; — first,  to  himself;  secondly,  to  his  sovereign  ; 
thirdly,  to  his  country  ;  and  fourthly,  to  the  vitupera- 
ting voice  of  the  whole  world  ;  if  my  client,  the  centu- 
rion, should  by  any  act  of  delinquency  on  his  part, 
leave  even  for  one  moment,  the  sepulchre  that  contain- 
ed the  crucified  body  of  Christ  unguarded ;  so  as  to 
facilitate,  by  the  least  act  of  unwatchfulness,  on  his 
part,  as  a  Roman  officer — and  should  have  winked  at, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  the  loss  or  escape  of  any 
prisoner,  that  was  by  the  governor  and  high  priest  of 
the  Jews,  so  imperatively  placed  under  his  charge- 
please  your  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  as  the  crucified  body  of  that  marvellous  and 


236  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

mysterious  being,  called  Christ,  was  placed — please  this 
court,  under  my  client,  the  centurion's  care,  with,  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  very  feet  and  hands 
of  Christ  so  strongly  chained  down  on  the  floor  of  the 
damp  dungeon  of  death  : — and  I  wish  this  court  to  keep 
in  view,  that  there  was  no  sham-work,  about  the  death 
of  Christ ; — yes,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours, 
no  transaction  that  has  taken  place,  which  has  to  this 
day  been  recorded,  on  the  annals  of  the  world,  or  the 
page  of  well  authenticated  history,  has  come  down  to 
us  with  more  public  notoriety,  than  the  putting  this 
harmless  man,  who  is  called  Christ,  in  the  most  inhu- 
man, cruel,  and  savage  manner  to  death,  on  the  cross. 

A  few  tlioughts  by  the  writer. 
What  a  most  awful  and  horrid  idea,  it  does  present 
to  the  philanthropic  mind,  of  the  pugnacious  spirit  of 
the  Jews,  in  putting  this  inoffensive  man  to  death ! — 
but  it  is  some  cause,  of  at  least  a  partial  triumph  to  the 
friends  of  Christ,  in  the  all  important  contest  or  war  of 
controversy,  between  the  Jew,  Deist  and  christian,  that 
the  death  of  Christ  took  place  under  such  public  cir- 
cumstances, which  narrows  the  controversy  to  the 
simple  point  at  issue,  before  the  bar  of  this  court ;  that 
is,  Whether  the  body  of  Christ,  was  stolen  out  of  the 
sepulchre  by  the  disciples,  or  whether  Christ  rose  from 
the  dead  ? — Fellow  shipmates,  for  if  Christ  went  out  of 
the  sepulchre  hy  a  divine  power,  it  will,  as  has  before 
been  said  at  this  bar,  indeed  make  the  most  awful  work 
among  Jews,  Deists  and  Atheists.  The  reader  will  once 
more  pardon  the  stenographer,  for  falling  off  the  wind's 
eye  of  the  counsellor's  plea  at  the  bar  of  this  court. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the 
judges  of  this  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest,  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  to  indulge  me  to  conclude, 
as  with  a  kind  of  brief  of  what  I  have  already  advan- 
ced, at  the  bar  of  this  court,  in  the  defence  and 
justification  of  my  client's  words  and  acts,  throughout 
that  subdolous  catastrophe;  that  is,  this  distressing  idea 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  237 

of  Christ  getting  out  of  the  sepulchre,  which  will  ever 
remain  so,  to  all  who  hate  him ;  to  both  Jews  and 
Deists,  with  their  near  kinsmen  the  Atheists.  There- 
fore, it  is  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  that  my  client  finds  him- 
self this  day  a  prisoner  in  durance  at  the  bar  of  this 
court ; — and  I  pray  your  honours  to  observe,  that  the 
centurion,  in  order  to  make  all  things  secure  and  safe 
forever,  placed  at  the  door  of  this  bastile  of  death,  a 
sufficient  number  of  Roman  guards,  after  he  had  sealed 
the  large  stone  at  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre ;  well 
knowing  that  if  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  his  prison- 
er, should  make  its  escape,  it  would  ruin  his  reputation 
as  a  citizen  of  Rome,  and  constuperate  with  the  foulest 
shades,  his  honour  as  an  officer,  and  blast  his  military 
character  in  the  Roman  army  forever.  And  now  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  and  jury, 
and  all  the  gentlemen  who  this  day  constitute  the  law 
elements  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the 
lost  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  my  promise 
of  brevity  in  the  defence  of  the  centurion's  innocency, 
in  the  loss  or  escape  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out 
of  the  sepulchre,  admonishes  me  to  say  no  more,  in  my 
client's  defence.  When  the  learned  barrister  sat  down: 
and  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  said,  that  he  with  his 
associate  judges  on  the  bench,  experienced  both  physi- 
cally and  mentally,  no  small  degree  of  lassitude,  in  their 
location  on  this  bench,  for  fourteen  days,  and  no  doubt 
the  counsel,  for  and  against  the  prosecution  of  the  pris- 
oners, that  have  been  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
namely,  Christ,  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the  centurion,  are 
with  the  judges,  more  or  less  weary  in  their  minds,  at 
the  sombreness  of  this  deathly  and  ghostly  trial ; — 
and  with  the  judges,  would  wish  the  remainder  of  this 
day,  to  refresh  and  resuscitate  themselves,  as  we  are  not 
altogether  aerial,  nor  yet  supra-mundane  beings  ; — so 
the  judge  adjourned  the  court,  to  meet  in  this  place 
the  next  da  v. 


238 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XV* 

The  fifteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  at  an  early  hour : 
and  as  soon  as  the  judges  were  all  seated  on  the  bench, 
and  the  counsellors,  for  and  against  the  defendant  at 
their  proper  locations,  that  the  marshal  of  the  empire, 
assisted  by  the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  and  a  company  of 
the  royal  guards  of  the  empire,  brought  the  centurion 
into  court,  and  placed  him  as  a  prisoner  at  the  bar. 
The  crier  of  the  court  having  gone  through  his  usual 
form,  and  put  up  at  the  altar  of  the  civick  gods,  his 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  cliief  judge  delivering  his  charge  to  the  jury,  in  the 
Centiu'ion's  case. 

No.  2.  The  attorney-general  taking  his  notes. 

Kb.  3.  The  foreman  of  the  jury,  presentingthe  verdict  of  the  jury  to  the 
judges. 

>io.  4.  The  counsellor  who  plead  the  Centurion's  cause,  taking  his  notes. 

No.  5.  The  Centurion  a  prisoner  at  the  bar. 

No.  6.  The  twelve  jurymen  in  their  box. 

No.  7.  The  Marshal  and  Sheriff  leading  the  Centurion  out  of  Court  with 
martial  honour. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  239 

customary  prayer,  "  May  the  gods  save  the  Emperor 
and  commonwealth'^ — his  learned  honour,  the  states- 
attorney  rose  and  gave  a  brief  of  the  plea,  he  had  pre- 
ferred against  the  centurion,  at  the  opening  of  the 
prosecution ;  and  also,  endeavoured  to  shake  the  postu- 
latory  pedestal,  on  which  the  learned  barrister  stood, 
who  plead  the  centurion's  cause ; — and  had,  from  the 
sheer  law  of  necessity,  to  elevate  himself,  so  as  to  see 
his  way  through  his  legal  sea,  full  of  shoals,  bars  and 
sunken  rocks,  that  were  of  the  following  names  ;  the 
collateral  shoals,  the  circumstantial  bars,  and  the  pre- 
sumptive rocks.  But  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  intona- 
tion of  the  states-general's  vituperating  voice,  for  about 
an  hour,  did  not  remove  a  single  shoal,  nor  shift  a  bar, 
nor  blow  up  a  single  rock;  so  that  all  his  legal  ratioci- 
nation to  rebut  the  arguments  of  the  centurion's  coun- 
sel, were  in  vain.  Having  blown  out  this  small  blast  of 
his  legal  horn,  the  states-attorney  sat  down  and  said  no 
more. 

The  Judge's  charge  to  the  court  and  jury,  in  the  Centu- 
rion's case. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  states-general  had 
taken  his  seat,  that  his  learned  honour,  the  chief  judge 
of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  rose  and  informed  the 
court,  that  it  was  an  old  axiom  in  Roman  law,  as  well 
as  in  all  our  courts  of  jurisprudence  in  our  sovereign 
realm,  predicated  on  the  noble  Magna  Charta,  that  lie 
on  the  civick  altars  before  our  gods,  that  when  our 
courts  of  judicature  fail  to  establish,  by  full  and  clear 
evidence,  the  allegations  and  specifications,  that  are  in 
the  bills  of  indictment  preferred  against  any  citizen, 
which  the  officers  of  justice  bring  to  the  bar  of  any  of 
our  courts  of  civil  law,  as  a  transgressor,  that  the  law 
of  the  Romans  holds  all  men  innocent,  where  there  is 
lack  of  substantial  witnesses  to  prove  them  guilty. 
Therefore,  may  it  please  the  court  and  jury,  I  view 
with  my  learned  colleagues  on  the  bench,  that  this  is 
precisely  the  case  with  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  the  cen- 


!240  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

turion,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  for  three  days  ;  during  which  short  period  of 
time,  it  was  lost  by  some  unknown  villains  or  myste- 
rious agency  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

I  shall  therefore,  in  giving  my  views  and  legal 
opinion,  to  this  enlightened  and  intelligent  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  of  the  person  and  character  of  the  centu- 
rion, that  it  appears  to  me,  in  concurrence  with  my 
learned  associates  on  the  bench,  that  the  rectitude 
manifested  in  all  the  words  and  acts  of  the  centurion, 
while  the  dead  body  of  Christ  was  under  his  care  and 
control,  leaves  him  standing  like  an  ancient  colossus,  on 
one  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  inexpugnable  to  the 
deleterious  ravages  of  time.  Yes,  please  the  court  and 
jury,  I  view  with  my  learned  colleagues,  that  the  in- 
violability of  the  centurion's  character,  is  safely  guard- 
ed from  all  reprehension,  by  the  whole  consecutive 
range  of  his  words,  acts,  and  soldier-like  conduct,  during 
the  whole  of  that  nebulous  catastrophe,  of  that  much  to 
be  lamented  loss  of  the  cadaverous  merchandize,  out  of 
the  custom-house  of  the  king  of  terrors.  That  is,  please 
the  court  and  jury,  in  plain  language,  the  loss  or  escape 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre, 
[which  presents  to  the  view  of  Jews,  Deists  and  Atheits, 
a  sombreness  of  appearance.]  We,  therefore,  which 
are  by  the  law  of  the  realm,  and  the  sovereign  pleasure 
of  our  lord  the  Emperor,  constituted  the  legal  and 
official  judges  of  this  court,  give  it  this  day  as  our 
legal  opinion  and  law  judgment,  that  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar  stands  innocent  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  from  all 
the  charges  in  the  bill  of  indictment  against  him,  of  de- 
linquency in  his  not  doing  his  whole  share  of  duty, 
which  his  learned  honour  the  states-attorney  has  pre- 
ferred against  him  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  prisoner  not  fully  discharging  his  duty. 
But,  may  it  please  the  court  and  jury,  it  appears  to  us 
both  presumably  and  circumstantially  evident,  that  the 
centurion  acted  out,  in  the  most  plenary  sense,  all  his 
professional,  moral,  and  physical  capabilities,  in  the  full 
discharge  of  his  military  duty  ;  which,  please  the  court 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  241 

and  jury,  as  a  Roman  officer,  so  onerously  devolved  on 
him.  And  let  this  court  further  indulge  me  to  say,  in 
the  language  used  at  the  bar  of  this  court  four  days 
ago,  by  the  very  learned  counsel  who  advocated  the 
cause  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  w-hen 
the  barrister  w^isely  observed,  and  fearlessly  exclaimed 
in  the  audience  of  this  court,  that  an  angel,  yea,  a  God, 
could  do  no  more,  than  act  out  all  his  or  their  mental 
and  physical  capabilities.  Let  the  hypostatical  essence 
of  the  being  thus  acting,  be  either  of  a  limited  or  un- 
limited character;  or  in  other  w^ords,  whether  the  being 
thus  acting  possesses  the  attribute  of  an  angel,  man,  or 
those  plenary  attributes,  w  hich  we  believe  the  go~ds  are 
in  the  felicitous  possession  of.  We  say,  please  this  court 
and  jury,  there  is  a  line  of  demarcation,  beyond  which 
neither  men  nor  angels,  nor  yet  the  gods  can  go ;  and 
that  is,  they  can  only  act  out  all  their  capabilities  and 
attributes,  w^hether  they  be  the  co-essential  or  coetan- 
eous  nature  of  the  gods  or  men,  they  possess ;  which  it 
appears  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  the  centu- 
rion, acted  out,  upon  this  pressing  emergency  and 
mysterious  occasion.  Therefore,  in  full  accordance 
with  the  judgment  and  legal  opinions  of  my  learned 
colleagues,  on  this  bench,  w^e  give  our  decision  in  favour 
of  the  centurion's  justification  and  innocency.  We 
have  been  led,  please  this  court  and  jury,  to  predicate 
this  our  legal  opinion,  from  the  plain  and  obvious  sense, 
of  the  legal  and  impartial  construction  of  the  stamina, 
or,  if  you  please,  the  spirit  of  our  laws.  Therefore,  as 
the  chief  organ  of  this  court,  and  the  law  of  our  sove- 
reign realm,  it  officially  devolves  on  me  this  day,  in  the 
presence  of  our  civick  gods,  and  in  the  audience  of  this 
wise  and  intelligent  court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  declare 
that  we  believe  the  centurion  to  be  an  upright,  just,  and 
honest  person,  in  all  that  related  to  the  ever  to  be  lamen- 
ted and  distressing  loss,  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

I  will  say  no  more  to  the  court  and  jury  at  this  time. 
When  the  judge  placed  the  cause,  with  the  necessary 
books  and  papers,  in  the  hands  of  the  jury;  who  retired 

X 


242  CHRIST  REJECTED, 

into  the  jury  chamber ;  and  in  the  course  of  three  hours, 
came  into  court  again,  and  presented  to  the  judges  a 
verdict  of  not  guilty,  of  any  of  the  charges  preferred  by 
the  crown  lawyer,  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar. 

The  chief  judge  then  rose,  and  in  a  pleasing  intona- 
tion of  his  commanding  voice,  read  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  in  the  audience  of  the  court. 

The  judge  rose  the  second  time  and  said  : — I  there- 
fore proclaim  to  the  whole  world,  that  the  centurion, 
the  prisoner  before  the  bar  of  this  tribunal,  is  this  day 
at  full  liberty  to  leave  this  cwurt  of  law  and  inquest, 
and  return  to  his  honorary  rank  in  the  Roman  army ; 
and  also  to  take  with  him  from  the  legal  decision  of  this 
court,  a  plenary  justification,  from  all  the  charges  in 
the  indictment,  which  his  learned  honour  the  states- 
attorney  preferred  against  him ;  and  that  he  leaves  this 
court  with  all  his  former  honours  and  laurels  of  military 
glory.  And  it  came  to  pass,  at  this  declaration  of  the 
chief  judge,  the  centurion  rose,  and  with  all  that  ur- 
banity and  military  etiquette  of  an  highly  accomplished 
Roman  officer,  made  a  very  easy  and  handsome  incli- 
nation of  his  person  to  the  judges,  and  then  withdrew 
under  a  most  salubrious  shower  of  applause.  \VTien 
the  judge  adjourned  the  court  to  meet  in  the  same 
place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TAe  sixteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre, of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass^  that  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
sixteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  robbing  the  sepulchre — as 
soon  as  the  court  doors  were  thrown  open,  a  vast  number 
of  chariots  and  other  carriages,  presented  themselves  in 
front  of  the  court  house,  very  richly  embellished  with 
figures  of  an  imposing  character,  indicative  of  their 
family  escutcheons,  which  set  forth  as  in  a  prospectus, 
their  patrician  birth :  these  carriages  were  all  drawn 
with  steeds  caparisoned  with  harness,  elegantly  mounted. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  young  gentlemen 
of  Jewish  and  Deistical  education,  noble  blood  andhon- 


Figure  No,  1.  The  great  court  of  Areopagus,  or  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, open  for  the  trial  of  the  disciples. 

No.  2.    The  five  judges  who  are  appointed  by  the  emperor  to  try  this  cause. 

No.  3.  Carnal  Reason  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ. 

No.  4.  Vain  Philosophy,  viewing  the  heavens  of  the  age  of  ReasoQ>-.an(l 
has  no  time  to  think  of  Imrnortality. 

No.  5.  The  slates-attorney  opening  the  prosecution. 

No.  6.  The  twelve  jurors  in  the  box. 

No.  7.  The  eleven  disciples  chained  together. 


244  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

ourable  birth,  converged  their  juvenile  vision  on  those 
ladies,  who  scorn  and  despise  Christ,  that  they  rushed 
out  of  court,  and  with  Roman  grace  and  easy  urbanity 
of  manners,  (always  indicative  of  good  breeding)  which 
almost,  as  it  were,  embargoes  the  vernacular  commerce 
of  the  writer's  vocabulary,  to  describe  their  highly 
polished  comity — when  those  young  scientific  gentle- 
men, gracefully  conducted  the  ladies  into  the  great  gal- 
lery of  the  court.  No  sooner  were  these  legitimate 
ladies  [of  the  family  of  satan]  seated,  than  there  drove 
up  in  front  of  this  court,  a  carriage,  that  was  rather  of 
a  plain  and  modest  appearance;  but  when  those  young 
gentlemen  of  the  philosophical  school,  came  to  the  court 
door,  and  casting  their  opticks  rather  obliquely,  at 
what  they  viewed,  as  having  rather  a  plebeian  appear- 
ance, in  the  persons  and  equipage  of  those  two  ladies, 
Reason  and  Philoso'phy ,  which  led  these  young  gentle- 
men to  forecast  in  their  minds,  from  the  modest  and 
plain  appearance  of  the  ladies,  [Reason  and  Philosophy; 
for  these  were  their  lovely  names,]  that  they  were 
either  of  christian  or  plebeian  origin.  Those  gentlemen, 
therefore,  were  remarkably  reserved,  in  the  display  of 
their  urbanity  towards  them. 

But,  reader,  they  were  in  some  measure  excusable, 
as  they  did  not  know  at  that  time,  the  intrinsick  value, 
of  the  inward  jewels  of  their  minds  ;  nor  how  valuable 
an  acquisition  those  ladies  were,  to  the  glorious  cause 
of  self-righteousness,  viz.  the  infidelity  of  the  present 
age.  When  these  gentlemen  slipped  into  court,  and 
left  the  ladies  to  alight  from  their  modest  carriage,  by 
the  solitary  aid  of  their  servants. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  at  this  critical  juncture,  that 
the  chief  judge  drove  up  to  the  front  of  the  court  house, 
in  his  forensick  carriage  ;  and  when  he  had  alighted, 
seeing  two  strange  and  modest  looking  ladies,  of  almost 
angelic  form,  with  their  rolling  eyes  scintillating  with 
philosophical  fire,  flying  from  their  sparkling  vision, 
which  appeared  to  be  elevated  towards  the  heavens  of 
the  marvellous  age  of  Reason;  and  the  fine  lineaments, 
and  other  soft  and  fascinating  signs  in  their  expressive 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  245 

countenances,  as  certainly  coindicative  of  their  deep 
wisdom,  soon  caught  the  chief  judge's  eye;  when  he 
very  politely  stepped  towards  the  ladies,  and  with  the 
urbanity  of  a  finished  gentleman  of  the  Roman  bar,  re- 
ceived them,  and  conducted  them  to  the  best  seat  in  the 
court :  and  at  the  same  time,  the  judge  highly  compli- 
mented them  for  their  wisdom,  in  leaving  their  country, 
and  their  father's  house,  and  coming  to  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  to  see  and  hear  for  themselves  this  singu- 
lar and  interesting  trial,  of  the  eleven  disciples,  on  the 
charge  of  stealing  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of 
the  sepulchre.  After  the  judge  had  accommodated  the 
ladies,  with  their  private  secretaries,  Unbelief  and 
Hardness  of  heart,  in  a  small  gallery  on  the  right  hand 
of  the  court,  [see  Nos.  3  and  4  on  the  plate,]  so  that  the 
ladies  might  not  be  interrupted  with  the  buzz  and  risi- 
bility of  the  multifarious  ladies  who  had  come  from  all 
the  provinces  of  the  empire 

But  be  it  remembered  by  the  reader,  that  those  fine 
ladies,  in  their  scintillating  robes  and  valuable  jewels, 
that  their  minds  were  not  over-charged  with  the  treas- 
ures of  wisdom  and  knowledge;  therefore,  many  of  them 
spent  a  great  part  of  their  time  in  raising  the  fountains 
of  vanity,  so  as  to  overflow  its  purlieus,  and  surcharge 
the  clouds  in  the  deistical  heavens,  and  then  shower 
down  their  risibility  on  Christ,  his  gospel,  and  immor- 
tality. And  let  it  be  observed,  also,  that  those  young 
butterflies  in  the  great  galler}^  were  a  very  striking 
emblem  of  a  great  majority  of  Deists,  Jews  and  other 
free-thinkers,  m  our  dying  and  sublunary  world;  who, 
when  the  sublime  and  momentous  subject  of  God,  Christ, 
Heaven,  Hell  and  Immortality,  does,  perchance,  pass 
under  their  volatile  review — in  order  that  the  solemn 
subject  may  make  no  lasting  impression  on  their  vas- 
cillating  minds,  and  with  a  view,  no  doubt,  to  prevent 
the  deathly  subject  from  presenting  a  sombreness  before 
their  minds,  they  give  the  great  concerns  of  eternity  a 
mere  transient  discussion ;  that  is,  next  door  to  giving 
God  and  eternity  an  indefinite  ^0-61/;  instead  of  acting  as 
wise  and  intelligent  beings,  and  entering  into  a  rational 
x2 


246  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

disquisition  of  the  evidences  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
from  the  dead ;  which  would  at  once  settle  the  whole 
point  at  issue,  between  the  christian  and  his  opponents. 

But,  with  the  reader's  indulgence,  we  will  return  in- 
to court.  And  in  order  to  connect  the  chain  of  our 
ideas  together,  we  iterate,  that  at  intervals,  the  young 
ladies  in  the  great  gallery,  would  at  times  entertain 
each  other  with  a  mere  interlocutory  discussion  of  the 
soul's  immortality,  and  Christ  and  his  church  in  this 
militant  state ;  whereby  it  was  manifest,  that  all  their 
powers  of  ratiocination,  could  not,  although  assisted 
with  all  their  physical,  mental  and  other  capabilities, 
reach  the  grand  arcanum,  [viz.  the  mystery  of  salvation, 
through  the  blood  of  the  cross,]  of  this  momentous  sub- 
ject; as  a  certain  unpolished  writer,  in  the  view  of  those 
volatile  fair  ones  of  the  philosophical  schools,  has  some 
where  written  for  their  ladyships'  admonition:  ''that 
the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is  not 
subject  to  the  law  of  God  ;  neither,  indeed,  can  be." 

But,  now,  sailing  our  court  business  past  those  ele- 
gant birds  of  passage,  [wafted  by  the  trade-wind,  over 
the  narrow  sea  of  life,]  in  the  great  gallery  of  the  court, 
we  will  return,  and  take  a  peering  view  of  the  ladies, 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  in  the  small  gallery,  [see  fig. 
3  and  4  in  the  plate,)  where  the  chief  judge  had  politely 
inducted  them,  so  that  they  might  have  a  full  view  of 
the  judges  on  the  bench,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  and 
of  hearing  the  powerful  arguments  of  the  counsels,  for 
and  against  the  disciples.  This  indulgence  was  a 
gracious  grant  of  the  court,  through  the  special  interest 
of  the  five  judges  in  their  behalf;  so  that  the  ladies 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  might  have  a  full  view  of  the 
legal  process  of  the  whole  court,  during  this  most  in- 
teresting trial,  that  has  ever  to  this  day,  engaged  the 
intellect  and  intelligence  of  mankind. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  all  the  specta- 
tors were  seated,  and  the  official  agents  of  the  court  at 
their  legal  stations,  that  an  almost  simultaneous  impulse 
from  the  muse  of  truth  and  justice,  a  solemn  silence, 
pervaded  the  whole  court ;  when  the  grand  marshal  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  247 

the  empire,  (of  modern  philosophy,)  with  the  high  sheriff 
of  Rome,  and  other  civil  officers  belonging  to  the  state's 
prison,  (of  the  empire  of  darkness,)  brought  into  court 
the  eleven  disciples,  loaded  with  fetters  and  chains,  and 
placed  them  in  the  criminal's  box,  before  the  bar  of  the 
court,  (see  fig.  7,  on  the  plate,)  suffer  the  relevancy  of 
the  writer  just  to  observe  to  the  reader,  that  the  tremu- 
lous limbs  and  the  faultering  tongues,  and  pale  coun- 
tenances of  the  eleven  prisoners,  coming  out  of  a  damp 
dungeon  of  modern  infidelity,  excited  on  the  part  of  the 
poor  low-breed  followers  of  Christ,  who  stood  in  the 
aisles  and  open  areas  of  this  court,  considerable  fear 
for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar ;  that  when  they  might  be 
called  on  to  speak  for  themselves,  or  answer  any  trite 
interrogatories,  by  the  counsel  on  the  side  of  the  crown, 
in  the  presence  of  this  learned  and  intelligent  court, 
they  of  course  would  experience  the  most  excessive 
embarrassment,  in  communicating  their  ideas  ; — being 
placed,  as  they  were,  in  the  very  midst  of  such  a  bril- 
liant constellation  of  law  wdsdom,  as  the  learned  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Roman  bar  were — being  appointed  by  the 
sovereign  authority  of  the  empire,  to  prosecute  this 
trial ;  so  that  the  true  friends  of  Christ,  his  gospel,  and 
immortality,  for  the  time,  were  much  cast  down  in 
their  minds,  for  the  poor  disciples  sakes,  as  well  as  for 
the  cause  of  divine  truth — being  thus  exposed  to  all  the 
civil  and  military  powers  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  have  to  encounter  all  the  philosophical 
wisdom  and  scientific  knowledge  of  this  world  ;  when 
it  appeared,  that  the  whole  reputation  and  interest  of 
the  gospel,  stood  shivering  like  the  aspen  leaf,  in  a  cur- 
rent of  air — as  the  cause  of  Christ,  by  some  inexplica- 
ble dispensation  of  the  great  helms-man  aloft,  which  to 
poor  sailors  appeared  like  a  distressing  storm  at  sea,  at 
a  season  when  least  expected  :  which  remains  to  seamen 
like  the  gordian  knot,  entirely  inextricable.  So  the  cause 
of  truth  appeared,  like  the  aspen  leaf,  in  the  tremulous 
hands  of  these  shivering  disciples,  just  brought  out  of 
the  dark  and  damp  dungeon  [of  sin  and  unbelief]  of  the 
states-prison,  and  suspended  before  the  bar  of  the  high 


248  ClIllIST  REJECTED. 

court  of  law  and  inquest,  in  the  hands  of  these  poor 
plebeian  wretches,  standing  chained  and  loaded  with 
fetters  of  the  rancorous  unbelief  of  ungodly  men;  sur- 
rounded on  every  side,  with  a  nebulous  atmosphere  of 
eternal  sleep,  that  threatened  every  moment  to  ingulf 
them,  under  the  mountainous  waves,  in  the  great  sea 
of  Carnal  reason  and  raging  philosophical  hatred  against 
Christ  rising  from  the  dead.  As  the  cause  of  Christ 
stood  shivering  in  the  wind,  and  a  profound  silence 
having  for  some  time  pervaded  the  court,  the  states- 
general  opened  the  prosecution  against  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  in  due  form;  first,  by  directing  the  clerk  to 
call  and  panel  the  jury. 

When  the  clerk  of  the  court  read  over  a  long  cata- 
logue of  illustrious  names,  of  the  most  learned,  wise  and 
intelligent  gentlemen  of  the  age  of  reason :  being  all 
indigenous  of  the  Kingdom  of  Infidelity,  and  who  had 
all  been  legally  notified  by  the  sheriff  of  Rome,  to  pre- 
sent themselves  this  morning,  as  jurors  at  the  court  of 
Areopagus,  for  to  try  the  cause  of  the  eleven  disciples, 
charged  with  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified 
body^of  Christ.  When  the  states-general  put  the  fol- 
lowing question  to  the  twelve  jurors,  which  the  court 
had  chosen :  v/hen  his  learned  honour,  the  crown  bar- 
rister, examined  as  near  as  possible,  consecutively,  the 
time  'vhen  this  glowing  galaxy  of  philosophical  wisdom, 
first  began  to  encircle  our  little  earth,  with  a  nebulous 
halo  of  material  and  skeptical  glory,  which  the  united 
labour  oi free-thiaking  love,  spread  over  the  present  and 
future  destiny  of  all  mankind ;  when  the  states-general 
called  the  jury,  viz. 

No.  1.  Lord  Edward  Herbert,  of  Cherbury, 

Boi-n  at  the  castle  of  Montgomery,  old  England,  in  1581. 

No.  2.  Thomas  Hobbes, 

Born  at  Malmesbury,  in  WiltsWre,  old  England,  in  1588. 

No.  3    Charles  Blount, 

Born  at  Upper  Halloway,  old  England,  m  1654. 

No.  4.  Matthew  Tindal, 

Born  at  Beer-Ferris,  in  Devonshire,  old  England,  in  IGSr. 

No.  5.  Thomas  Woolston, 

Born  at  Northampton,  old  England,  in  1669. 


CHRIST  KEJECTED.  249 

No.  6.  John  Toland, 

Born  in  Ii  eland,  near  Londonderry,  in  1669. 

No.  7.  Anthony  Collins, 

Born  at  Heston,  Middlesex,  old  England,  in  1676. 

No.  8.  Thomas  Chubb, 

Born  at  a  small  village  near  Salisbury',  old  England,  in  1679. 

No.  9.  David  Hume, 

Bern  at  Edinburgli,  in  Scotland,  in  1711. 

No.  10.  Edward  Gibbon, 

Born  at  Putney,  near  London,  old  England,  in  1737. 

No.  11.  Marie  Francois  Arouet  Voltaire, 

Born  at  Chatenay,  near  Paris,  France,  in  1694. 

No.  12.  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau, 

Boi'n  at  Geneva,  in  1712. 

The  foregoing  jurymen  being  all  affirmed,  to  truly 
decide  and  bring  in  a  verdict  to  the  best  of  their  judg- 
ment, according  to  the  witness  placed  before  them  ; — 
when  the  states-general  proceeded  by  stating  to  the 
court,  that  this  was  an  action  brought  by  the  crown, 
in  the  behalf  of  his  majesty,  the  emperor  Tiberius,  [or 
otherwise  Satan  and  Infidelit}^]  against  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  for  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of  the  cru- 
cified body  of  Christ.  The  states-attorney  then  pre- 
sented the  bills  of  indictment,  which  the  grand-jury  had 
found  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar :  When  his  learn- 
ed honour,  turning  himself  so  as  to  face  both  judges 
and  jury,  read  the  bills  of  indictment,  which  contained 
a  specific  declaration  of  the  prisoners'  crimes. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  in  the  course  of  the  plenary 
discharge  of  the  crown  barrister's  official  duty,  that  his 
very  eye  balls  scintillated  w^ith  forensick  fire,  while  his 
legal  ingenuity,  being  elevated  like  a  lightning-rod,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  draw  every  little  spark  of  the  electrical 
fluid  of  crime,  from  the  sombre  clouds,  that  were  por- 
tentous of  the  disciples'  guilt,  to  meet  in  a  focus,  to 
enable  him  to  surcharge  the  persons  and  characters  of 
the  disciples,  with  a  scarlet  hue  and  crimson  dye,  as 
they  stood  chained  before  the  bar.  While  his  learned 
honour,  w^ith  his  legal  oratory,  was  clothing  in  robe« 
of  the  darkest  guilt,  all  the  alleged  crimes  contained  in 
the  indictment,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  it  was 


250  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

worthy  of  remark  to  notice,  with  what  forensick  em- 
phasis, the  states-general  placed  on  all  his  words  ;  fol- 
lowed by  the  distinctness  in  his  sententious  remarks,  of 
the  guilt  of  the  disciples,  in  order  to  influence  the  mind 
of  the  court  and  jury,  by  the  harmonious  key  of  his 
court  intonations  and  clearness  of  his  forensick  voice, 
and  the  perspicuity  of  his  arguments,  which  at  intervals 
came  down,  like  the  heated  thunder-bolts,  from  the 
clouds  of  vengeance  !  and  the  red  lightning,  from  the 
gods  of  justice,  v.ere  just  ready  to  ignite  them  as  war- 
nings to  the  race  of  men,  while  a  sombre  dispensation, 
of  almost  impenetrable  gloom,  seemed  to  envelop  the 
case  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  and  that  also,  as  a  con- 
sequence which  followed  so  close  in  the  wake  of  the 
disciples'  guilt,  the  resurrectionof  Christ  from  the  dead. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  after  the  states-attorney 
had  read  over  the  bills  of  indictment,  he  then  proceed- 
ed to  call  over  the  prisoners'  names,  one  by  one  ;  to 
each  name  he  demanded  a  categorical  answer.  Now  the 
names  of  the  eleven  disciples  were  thus  placed  in  con- 
secutive order,  in  the  indictment,  as  follows :  Simon 
Peter,  Andrew,  James,  John,  Philip,  Bartholomew, 
Thomas,  Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and 
Simon  the  Canaanite,  and  Judas  the  brother  of  James. 

The  names  of  the  eleven  prisoners  being  called  over, 
and  an  implicit  answer  being  given  by  each  prisoner 
to  his  own  proper  name,  his  honour  the  crown  barris- 
ter rose,  and  said  to  the  prisoners :  You  whose  names 
have  been  read  and  called  over,  in  your  audibility,  and 
also  in  the  hearing  of  the  whole  court — Therefore,  be 
it  known  to  you  all,  who  are  the  disciples  of  that  very 
trouble-some  and  mysterious  being,  called  Christ,  that 
you  are  all  indicted  by  the  Grand-jury,  in  this  declara-  - 
tion  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  before  you,  and  in  the  I 
presence  of  this  whole  court,  with  three  indictments.  ^ 
I  shall  therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  and  all  the 
other  law  elements,  who  this  day  constitute  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  proceed  in  the  opening  of  this 
eause,  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  by  examining  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  !251 

guilt  of  the  prisoners  in  the  consecutive  order,  I  find 
them  placed  by  the  Grand-jury,  in  the  bills  of  indict- 
ment. 

Charge  first. — I  shall,  may  it  please  your  honours 
the  judges,  and  this  impartial  jury  in  the  box,  begin 
with  specification  the  first.  When  his  learned  honour 
the  attorney-general  ordered  the  prisoners,  who  were 
loaded  with  fetters  and  chains,  to  rise  and  face 
the  judges  and  jury:  and  said — the  first  indictment 
onerously  charges  you  all,  collectively,  and  in  your  in- 
dividuate ^character,  with  a  most  daring  overt-act, 
against  our  liege  sovereign  Tiberius'  regal  government, 
which  the  judges  and  jury  well  know,  that  the  laws  of 
the  Roman  Empire  justly  construes  the  aforesaid  overt- 
act,  to  be  high  treason,  and  rebellion  of  the  deepest 
shades  of  character ;  and  the  law  declares  all  such  as 
wilful  transgressors  and  rebels. 

This  part  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoners,  please  your 
honours  the  judges  and  jury,  the  Grand-jury  have  wisely 
predicated,  on  these  very  prisoners  going  by  night,  and 
attacking  a  strong  military  post,  well  guarded  by  a 
select  band  of  soldiers,  taken  from  part  of  the  royal 
army  of  Tiberius,  who  were  stationed  in  the  province 
of  Judea,  under  the  procuratorship  of  Pontius  Pilate, 
governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  region  round  about 
Jordan.  This  act  of  the  prisoners,  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  constitutes  the  character  of  their  transgressions, 
as  one  of  the  blackest  degrees  of  open  rebellion :  so  that 
please  your  honours  the  judges  and  jury,  if  in  the  course 
of  their  trial  now  pending  before  the  bar,  this  court 
shall  be  put  in  the  possession  of  plenary  and  clear  evi- 
dence of  their  guilt,  their  lives  Avill  be  all  justly  forfeit- 
ed to  the  laws  of  the  realm. 

Charge  the  second. — And  may  it  please  your  learn- 
ed honours  the  judges  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, with  the  impartial  jury  in  the  box,  the  second 
specification  in  the  consecutive  order  in  the  indictment, 
I  find  to  be  of  a  felonious  and  seditious  character.  And 
the  grand-jury,  please  your  honours,  are  in  my  view  of 


252  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  law,  fully  justified  in  forming  their  second  bill 
against  the  prisoners'  guilt,  in  their  going  by  night  and 
breaking  open  the  royal  seal  of  state.  This  the  statutes 
of  Roman  law,  construes  as  an  act  of  felony,  of  the 
highest  grade.  This  court  holding  its  civick  doctrine 
in  unison  with  the  common  law  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  well  knows,  that  under  all  governments,  felony 
of  such  a  grade,  is  always  punishable  by  death.  This 
felonious  act  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  is  predicated 
from  that  part  of  their  conduct,  that  consists  in  their 
undulating  the  calm  sea  of  the  civil  laws  and  statutes 
of  the  Roman  empire,  when  these  prisoners,  who  are 
commonly  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,  went,  and  in 
the  most  seditious  and  felonious  manner,  broke  open  the 
imperial  seal  of  state,  and  rolled  the  stone  from  the  en- 
trance or  mouth  of  the  sepulchre.  And  should  the  court 
find  clear  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  guilt  of  the 
prisoners,  their  lives  will  be  all  forfeited  a  second  time 
to  the  laws  of  the  realm. 

Charge  the  third. — May  it  please  your  learned  hon- 
ours the  judges  with  the  jury,  the  third  charge  or 
specification  I  find  placed  by  the  Grand-jury,  in  the 
consecutive  order  of  the  indictment  I  still  hold  in  my 
hand,  is,  please  your  honours,  of  such  a  constuperating 
character,  darkened,  please  the  court,  if  possible,  by  the 
most  sable  and  demoniacal  designs  of  imposing  a  pious 
fraud,  on  the  poor  unlettered  and  uninformed  part  of 
the  liege  subjects  of  our  lord  the  Emperor.  This  super- 
stitious malady,  it  appears,  please  your  honours,  to  have 
been  their  dernier  intention  to  carry  through  the  whole 
empire,  in  order,  first,  to  imbue  the  minds  of  the  good 
and  loyal  subjects  of  Tiberius,  with  a  spirit  of  male- 
volence against  the  doctrine  of  all  our  national  gods,  by 
tormenting  the  minds  of  the  Roman  citizens  about  im- 
mortality; which,  these  felonious,  sacrilegious  and 
villainous  wretches  had  in  view,  by  stealing  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre :  and  running 
to  and  fro  in  the  land,  proclaiming  that  the  body  of 
Christ  had  come  to  life  again. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  *        253 

Therefore,  may  it  please  the  judges  and  jury,  of  this 
impartial  court,  if  it  is  not  irrelevant  in  a  crown  lawyer 
to  indulge  in  the  use  of  a  small  simile,  in  fully  placing 
the  dark  shades  of  the  third  allegation  in  the  indictment 
before  the  court — I  would  then  say,  please  the  court, 
that  this  third  crime  in  the  indictment,  would  over-cast 
w^ith  a  blush  of  shame,  the  callous  countenances  of  some 
fiery  demon.  Therefore,  to  satisfy  the  court,  that  the 
shades  of  moral  turpitude,  I  have  placed  before  the 
vision  and  audibility  of  this  court,  on  the  fegal  charac- 
ter of  the  third  charge,  in  the  indictment  of  the  prison- 
er's guilt,  is  not  exaggerated  by  the  Grand-jury.  There- 
fore your  honours  the  judges  well  know,  with  the  jury, 
that  either  of  the  three  crimes  in  the  bills  of  indict- 
ment, which  their  peers,  the  Grand-jury,  have  found 
against  them,  is  all-sufficient,  w'ithout  legal  argument, 
to  draw  down  on  their  devoted  heads,  the  vituperating 
voice  of  justice,  and  the  thundering  vengeance  of  the 
civil  and  martial  laws  of  their  country ;  which  pro- 
nounces both  the  crime,  and  the  condign  punishment 
on  the  same,  to  be  capital — that  is  death,  for  each 
offence.     The  states-attorney  then  sat  down. 

[The  chief-judge  states  to  the  prisoners,  their  exposed 
condition  to  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  advises  them 
to  procure  able  counsel  to  defend  their  jeopardous  per- 
sons at  the  bar  of  this  court.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  crown  barrister  had 
taken  his  seat,  the  judge,  w^ho  appeared  to  have  been 
less  stoical  in  his  forensick  sensibilities,  than  the 
states-general,  rose  and  desired  the  prisoners  to  sit 
down:  w^hen  his  honour,  with  his  notes  on  the  desk  be- 
fore him,  containing  the  names  of  the  eleven  disciples, 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  with  the  country  where  they 
were  born,  which  proved  them  all  to  be  the  indigenous  of 
Judea  ;  whose  forefathers  had,  about  fourteen  hundred 
years  antecedent  to  their  robbing  the  sepulchre,  driven 
out  the  Canaanites  and  their  confederates,  who  were 
the  aborigines  of  the  land,  a  small  isolated  province 
of  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  well  known  days  of 
Agustus    and   Tiberius;    the   first    emperors    of   the 

Y 


254  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

largest  monarchy  that  this  mundane  dispensation,  had 
ever  before  or  since,  presented  either  to  the  vision  or 
reflection  of  mankind. 

The  chief  judge  then  asked  the  prisoners  their  ages, 
calhngs,  avocations  and  learned  professions,  and  the 
town  or  village  in  which  they  w^ere  born;  with  the 
moral  and  theological  instruction  they  had  received  in 
early  life.  To  which  wise  and  prudent  interrogations 
of  the  judge,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  gave  a  categorical 
and  laconick  reply,  with  so  much  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge in  the  collocation  of  their  words,  and  harmony 
of  their  views,  in  their  sententious  answers  to  the  chief 
judge,  that  the  whole  court  greatly  marvelled,  that 
wretches  of  their  cadaverous  appearance,  loaded  with 
fetters  and  chains,  could  give  such  trite  answers. 

The  judge  having  gone  through  with  his  interroga- 
ting the  prisoners,  he  ordered  the  clerk  of  the  court  to 
read  over,  very  distinctly,  the  names  of  the  prisoners, 
one  by  one,  so  that  each  prisoner  had  to  give  a  direct 
answer  to  his  own  name. 

This  being  done  in  legal  form,  the  chief  judge  rose 
the  second  time,  and  rehearsed  in  a  very  distinct  and 
audible  manner,  the  three  dark  and  onerous  specifica- 
tions contained  in  the  bills  of  indictment,  which  the 
grand-jury  had  found  against  them,  and  which  his 
learned  honour,  the  states-general,  had  in  legal  and  due 
form,  preferred  against  them  at  the  bar  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest.  When  his  honour  had  placed 
the  crimes  of  the  prisoners,  in  his  laconick  expose  of 
the  allegations  in  the  indictment,  before  the  prisoners 
and  whole  court,  he  asked  the  prisoners,  whether  they 
plead  guilty  or  not  guilty,  to  the  three  charges  in  the 
bills  of  indictment  ?  When  he  paused,  and  resumed  his 
seat  on  the  bench ;  in  order  to  give  the  prisoners  time 
to  seriously  reflect  before  they  gave  their  reply. 

The  disciples  plead  not  guilty,  of  robbing  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  a  few  minutes  silence,  on 
the  part  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  that  one  of  the 
most  unlikely  of  them  rose,  whose  name  was  Simon 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  255 

Peter,  and  by  avocation  a  fisherman  of  Galilee,  (who 
was  also  of  recreant  memory,  in  consequence  of  the  fel- 
low being  so  shamefully  terrified,  upon  a  certain  occa- 
sion, by  a  servant  maid,)  and  became  the  organ  to  this 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  both  for  himself  and  his  ten 
accomplices  in  [the  supposed]  guilt,  in  the  case  pend- 
ing at  the  bar:  when  Simon  Peter  announced  to  the 
court,  that  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  plead  not-guilty,  of 
any  of  the  charges  in  the  indictment.  The  judge  then 
asked  Simon,  if  he  and  his  ten  brethren,  who  were  his 
accomplices  in  the  three  crimes  set  forth  in  the  indict- 
ment, were  all  ready  with  their  witnesses  and  legal 
counsel,  to  defend  themselves  ?  When  Simon  thus  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  judges  and  gentlemen  of  the 
jury:  may  it  benignly  please  your  learned  honours  the 
five  judges,  who  by  the  emperor  Tiberius,  are  appoint- 
ed to  try  us  for  our  lives,  and  the  impartial  jury  of  this 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest ; — I  humbly  pray  your 
honours  with  the  jury,  to  indulge  me  with  its  attention 
and  legal  patience  for  a  few  moments,  while  I  present 
an  answer  to  your  query,  Whether  w^e  as  prisoners, 
(almost  without  hope,)  are  ready  wdth  witnesses  and 
legal  counsel,  to  defend  ourselves  ?  I  shall  now  most 
humbly  and  obediently  inform  this  court,  that  the  som- 
bre clouds  of  adversity,  and  the  storms  of  misfortune, 
have  overtaken  and  spread  its  deteriorating  wings 
over  our  persons  and  estates — so  that  like  our  avowed 
master,  w^e  with  him,  please  your  honours,  do  not  hold 
\i\  fee-simple,  a  bird's  nest  that  we  can  legally  call  our 
ow'n  ;  nor  even  the  humble  den  of  a  sly  fox,  to  retreat 
into,  to  cover  our  defenceless  heads  from  the  pitiless 
storm,  that  the  dense  clouds  of  unconscious  guilt,  that 
now  hanoj  over  our  heads,  threatening  us  with  death. 
Your  honour's  good  sense  will  naturally  glide  off  into  this 
conclusion  :  that  silver  and  gold  we  have  none;  no,  not 
even  to  pay  a  Roman  tole ;  much  less,  please  this  court, 
have  we  a  sufficient  supply  of  that  precious  metal,  to 
employ  legal  counsel  to  plead  our  cause,  before  the  bar 
of  this  court ;  and  be  justly  able  to  renumerate  them 
for  their  forensick  services. 


256  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  this  impartial  jury,  we  shall  be  coerced 
under  the  imperious  law  of  sheer  necessity,  to  throw 
ourselves,  with  our  almost  hopeless  cause,  and  jeopar- 
dous  lives,  as  a  dernier  resort,  on  the  justice  and  mercy 
of  this  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest : — and  may 
the  great  helms-man  aloft,  guide  and  direct  this  court, 
to  do  for  us  the  things  that  are  both  just  and  merciful : 
when  Simon  said  no  more. 

The  judge  then  rose,  and  signified  to  the  court,  that 
the  hour  of  adjournment  had  arrived  ;  when  the  disci- 
ples, the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  were  remanded  back  to 
prison,  and  the  court  stood  adjourned,  to  meet  in  the 
same  place  the  next  day. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  during  the  recess  of  this 
court,  that  the  states-general  went  to  the  high  marshal 
of  the  empire,  and  high  sheriff's  office,  and  took  out  a 
mandamus,  or  writ  of  caption  ;  that  is,  w4iat  some  may 
call  a  bench  warrant,  for  the  centurion ;  who,  with  his 
royal  guards,  had  the  care  and  charge  of  the  sepulchre, 
at  the  time  the  body  of  Christ  was  said,  by  the  Jews, 
to  have  been  stolen  therefrom;  to  bring  the  guards 
forthwith  into  court,  for  witnesses  to  convict  the  disci- 
ples of  their  guilt. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


257 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  seventeenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre, of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus 
was  opened  at  an  early  hour,  on  the  morning  of  the 
seventeenth  day.  And  the  first  vehicle  that  drove  up 
in  front  of  the  court,  was  the  carriage  of  the  ladies 
Reason  and  Philosophy.  These  amiable  and  scientific 
ladies,  it  appears,  had  minds  as  well  as  elegant  forms ; 
and  did  not,  we  humbly  presume,  believe  that  tangible 
enjoyments  were  the  ultimatum  of  human  felicity.  So 
it  appears,  in  consequence  of  this  momentous  stage  of 
the  trial,  these  were  the  most  anxious  of  all  the  specta- 
tors, who  condescended  to  visit  this  court,  and  hear  for 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  five  judges  of  this  court,  sitting  on  the  trial  of  (Ue 
eleven  disciples,  for  robbing  the  sepulchre. 

No.  2.  The  states-general  taking  the  guards'  evidence. 

No.  3.  The  twelve  jurors  panelled,  and  in  the  jury-box. 

No  4.  'I'he  disciples  chained,  and  placed  in  the  criminal's  box. 

No.  5.  The  table  in  front  of  the  court,  where  the  guards  are  aifirmed. 

No.  6.  Carnal  Reason,  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross. 

No.  7.  Vain  Philosophy,  Avith  a  telescope,  viewing  the  heavens. 

No,  8,  The  large  galleiy  filled  with  Jews  and  Deists. 

y2 


258  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

themselves,  this  most  interesting  of  all  trials,  that  the 
intelect  of  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  surveying. 
These  ladies,  therefore,  have  set  us  all  a  laudable  ex- 
ample. And  the  amanuensis,  humbly  prays  the  reader, 
whether  he  be  a  Mahometan,  Jew,  Christian,  Deist,  or 
his  dear  and  near  kinsman  and  beloved  cousin,  the 
Atheist,  to  prayerfully  read  this  trial  throughout,  and  not 
to  faint,  as  the  issue  of  this  trial  will  one  way  or  other, 
draw  the  great  line  of  demarcation;  whether  reader  thou 
art  on  a  level  with  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  or  whether  thy 
soul,  from  the  sublime  dignity  of  its  elements  and  attri- 
butes, and  God-like  qualities  of  its  nature,  is  co-essential, 
and  as  relates  to  coming  time — coetaneous  with  God;  of 
which  we  have  a  very  imperfect  understanding  in  this 
mundane  state.  But  still  we  can  gather,  from  the  preco- 
cious fruits,  it  now  and  then  bears  in  this  militant  state, 
which  often  demands  at  our  better  judgments  and  un- 
derstandings— as  Philip  said  to  his  son  Alexander,  a 
better  kingdom,  than  the  tangible  joys,  which  our  pas- 
sions and  lusts  procure  for  us  in  this  world. 

Reader,  thy  soul  claims  an  aerial  atmosphere,  and 
longs  for  its  more  sublimated  inheritance ; — and  often 
inwardly  sighs  after  its  legitimate  affinity  to  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  his  son,  who  hath  only 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light,  through  his  gos- 
pel. Therefore,  follow  close  in  the  path  of  those  two 
wise  ladies,  and  come  to  court  and  hear  and  read  this 
trial,  (as  the  case  of  your  circumstances  may  be,)  for  it 
has  an  onerous  bearing  on  the  happiness,  and  universal 
felicity  or  misery  of  all  mankind;  and  may  be  justly 
viewed,  as  the  greatest  cause  that  ever  appeared  for 
trial,  before  the  bar  of  any  court  on  earth  to  this  day. 

A.  D,  1832. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  ladies, 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  were  by  the  high  officers  of 
the  court,  inducted  in  the  small  gallery,  in  front  of  the 
judges  and  prisoners,  that  the  other  ladies  of  honour 
and  distinction,  of  Jewish  and  Deistical  blood  and  birth, 
arrived  in  their  elegant  carriages,  and  were,  as  we  have 


i 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  259 

once  observed,  most  politely,  by  the  young  gentlemen, 
with  Roman  comity,  and  fine  urbanity  of  manners, 
escorted  into  the  large  gallery  of  the  court.  And  as 
soon  as  the  five  judges,  and  the  other  forensick  gentle- 
men were  seated,  and  the  officers  of  the  court  were  all 
at  their  legal  stations,  that  the  marshal  and  high  sheriff 
of  Rome,  brought  in  the  disciples,  chained  together,  and 
placed  them  in  the  old  criminal's  box,  before  the  bar  of 
the  court. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  no  sooner  had  the  marshal 
and  sheriff  left  the  court,  than  the  centurion  arrived 
with  his  royal  guards,  and  led  them  up  to  the  bar  of 
the  court:  when  the  centurion  withdrew.  And  it  was 
worthy  of  remark,  that  those  Roman  guards  appeared 
to  be  a  set  of  fine  healthy,  athletic,  and  able-bodied  look- 
ing fellows,  that  ever  the  opticks  of  mankind  converged 
on;  and  at  the  same  time,  they  had  all  the  physical,  and 
martial  appearance  of  men  of  valour  ;  so  that  in  the 
eye  of  common  sense,  any  person  might  have  most 
safely  ventured  to  have  forecast  in  his  mind,  that  those 
poor  looking  prisoners,  chained  together  in  the  old 
criminal's  box,  before  the  bar  of  the  court,  would  cer- 
tainly never  have  dared  to  come  near  such  invulnera- 
ble looking  soldiers  ;  much  less  to  have  simultaneously 
prostrated  a  band  of  royal  guards  to  the  earth,  as  dead 
men. 

The  examination  of  the  Royal  guards  by  the  states-attorney  j 
and  the  evidence  they  gave  against  the  eleven  disciples^ 
for  stealing  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepid- 
chre. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  on  the  morning  of  the  sev- 
enteenth-day— all  the  parties  to  this  great  trial  being  in 
court,  when  the  crier  of  the  court  called  to  order — and 
the  states-attorney  called  up  the  royal  guards  to  the 
table,  in  front  of  the  bar;  and  by  the  official  officer, 
had  the  following  solemn  affirmation,  put  to  each 
man,  v/ho  constituted  the  royal  guards,  that  had  the 
care  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  as  it  laid  in  the 
sepulchre,  under  the  imperial  seal  The  affirmation 
run  in  the  following  coljocq-tion  of  words :  to  wit  ;^ 


260  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

You,  sir,  who  were  one  of  the  persons  who  did  actually, 
identically,  and  in  your  individuate  character,  most  truly  con- 
stitute one  of  the  guards,  over  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
in  the  days  when  Pontius  Pilate  was  governor  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  region  round  about  Jordan,  in  the  land  of  Israel — and 
in  the  days  also,  when  his  holiness,  Caiaphas,  was  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem — and  in  the  days 
when  Tiberius  Caesar  was  the  sole  emperor  of  the  Roman 
empire  :  and  that  you  sir,  as  a  man  of  honour,  and  a  citizen 
of  Rome,  do  most  solemnly  declare,  and  truly  affirm,  that  all 
the  testimony  and  witness,  which  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  in  the  plenitude  of  its  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
of  martial,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law  ;  and  also,  its  exten- 
sive acquaintance  of  men  and  things,  shall  this  day  call  on 
you  to  give  in,  before  the  bar  of  this  solemn  court,  relating 
to  the  cause  now  pending  at  its  bar,  shall  be  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  in  the  sight  and  pres- 
ence of  all  the  gods  of  the  Roman  army  and  nation.-Amen. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  after  this  solemn  affirma- 
tion had  been  legally  administered  by  the  official  officer 
of  this  court,  to  each  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  who  con- 
stituted the  watch  over  the  sepulchre,  which  contain- 
ed the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  that  the  court  proceed- 
ed with  the  trial. 

[Here  folio  we  th  the  testimony  of  the  Roman  guards 
against  the  disciples,  for  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ.] 

The  court  of  Areopagus  being  in  solemn  waiting,  the 
states-general  rose  and  proceeded,  without  any  moles- 
tation from  opposite  counsel  on  the  side  of  the  defend- 
ants, to  take  the  guards  testimony  ;  when  the  learned 
barrister,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown,  desired  the  guards 
to  give  in  their  evidence  as  distinctly  as  possibly,  so  as 
to  avoid,  as  far  as  their  physical  and  mental  qualities, 
and  other  capabilities  would  admit,  of  that  disagreeable, 
and  in  many  instances,  almost  repulsive  incongruity,  in 
the  language  of  a  vast  number  of  those,  which  the  arm 
of  the  law  cites  to  the  bar  of  our  courts  in  the  charac- 
ter of  witnesses.  Therefore,  gentlemen  of  the  royal 
guards,  you  may  now  proceed  without  the  least  diffi- 
dence on  your  part,  like  bold  soldiers  and  honourable 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  261 

citizens  of  the  Roman  empire,  to  deliver  your  evidence 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  without  the  least  shade  of  either 
mental,  or  physical  embarrassment ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  gentlemen  of  the  royal  guards,  pitch  the  key  of 
your  martial  voice  to  such  an  altitude  of  intonation, 
that  all  the  Jewish  and  Deistical  ladies  in  the  great 
gallery,  and  especially  the  ladies  Reason  and  Philoso- 
phy, in  the  small  gallery,  [see  fig.  0  and  7  on  the  plate,] 
may  distinctly  hear  your  bold  and  soldier-like  evidence. 
After  this  direction  by  the  states-attorney  to  the  guards, 
they  came  forward  one  by  one,  and  gave  in  their  tes- 
timony ;  which  evidence  was  remarkably  laconick,  in 
the  elements  of  language,  and  exceedingly  cautious  in 
the  choice  and  collocation  of  their  words  ;  so  that,  if 
the  royal  guards  had  pursued  the  illustrious  profession 
of  the  law  all  their  days,  they  could  not  have  acted 
with  more  sagacious  caution  and  frugality,  in  the  use 
of  words,  than  they  did. 

A  note  hy  the  amanuensis. — So  that  the  numerical  weight 
of  their  vocabulary,  or  the  number  of  their  words,  would  not, 
in  the  humble  opinion  of  the  writer,  load  the  gospel-ship  be- 
low her  bends,  in  the  constuperating  or  foul  waters  of  vnht^ 
lief.  [Glory  to  God,  the  gospel-ship  will  everlastingly  out' 
ride  the  storm.]  Reader,  the  postulatory  pedestal,  on  which 
rests  the  colossus,  and  almost  inexpugnable  pillar  of  argument, 
(in  the  view  of  Jews  and  Deists,)  against  the  whole  truth  of 
the  gospel,  ran  in  these  words  :] 

May  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  said  the  first  guard,  at  the 
bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  commonly  called  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
came  by  night,  while,  may  it  please  your  learned  hon- 
ours, we  who  constituted  the  Roman  watch,  that  were 
set  by  our  centurion  to  keep  and  retain  the  body  of 
Christ  in  the  sepulchre,  [the  christian  reader  may  see 
Peter's  case,  when  Herod  put  him  in  prison,  as  to  the 
number  and  strength  of  the  guards,  the  Romans  placed 
over  a  notorious  prisoner ;  and  we  presume,  the  num- 
ber could  not  have  been  less  in  Christ's  than  in  Peter's 
case,  as  Pilate  and  Caiaphas  were  both  alarmed,   for 


262  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

fear  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  should,  by  some  way, 
find  its  way  out  of  the  sepulchre,  see  Acts  12  and  4,] 
and  stole  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre, while  we  were  to  a  man  fast  asleep ;  and  so  said 
every  one  of  the  guards,  w^ho  constituted  the  four  qua- 
ternions of  soldiers,  placed  by  the  orders  of  Pilate,  over 
the  sepulchre. 

Reader,  at  this  stage  of  the  trial,  it  is  worthy  of  care- 
ful observation,  that  the  whole  band  of  Roman  guards, 
in  giving  their  evidence  against  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  were  unanimous  and  precisely  the  same ;  and  that 
too,  without  the  least  variation,  in  either  the  number 
or  etymological  character  of  their  words ;  being  all 
well  sifted,  from  the  chaff  of  forensick  tergiversation ; 
as  those  bold  Roman  veterans  were  too  magnanimous 
to  rest  their  feet  on  any  evasive  sand-bar  of  court 
vocabulary  ;  but  like  men  of  honour  and  probity,  they 
gave  in  their  evidence  at  the  bar  of  this  august  court 
of  law^  and  inquest. 

When  the  guards  had  finished  their  testimony  against 
the  eleven  disciples,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  the  states- 
attorney  desired  the  guards  to  be  seated  for  a  few 
moments,  while  he  finished  and  numbered  his  notes ; 
and  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  his  learned  honour 
had  them  all  fairly  adjusted  in  order,  to  commence  his 
pleading,  the  crown  barrister,  with  his  usual  share 
of  suavity  of  style  and  court  etiquette,  politely  inform- 
ed the  royal  guards,  that  they  were  all  at  perfect  liberty 
to  leave  the  court  and  return  to  their  quarters — as  he 
perceived  no  predilection  on  the  part  of  their  learned 
honours  the  judges,  nor  yet  on  the  part  of  the  defend- 
ants, to  proceed  by  opposite  counsel,  either  to  rebut  or 
cross-examine  the  sixteen  Roman  guards,  who  have  just 
been  giving  in  their  evidence,  against  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  disciples 
ofChrist. 

When  the  captain  of  the  royal  guards  led  them  out 
of  the  court,  with  Roman  banners,  under  fine  military 
discipline.  By  this  time  the  hour  of  adjournment  had 
arrived,  when  his  honour  the  chief  judge,  adjourned 
the  court  to  meet  in  the  same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


^m 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

The  eighteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  rohhery  of  the  sepul- 
chre^ of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  the  court  of  Areopagus  met  in  pursuance  of  ad- 
journment, at  the  usual  hour :  when  the  judges,  with 
all  the  other  law  elements  which  constituted  this  vast 
sea  of  forensick  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  for  the 
which  this  court  was  so  highly  famed  throughout  the 
world,  for  its  impartiality  towards  all  men — that  either 
crime,  or  the  adverse  current  of  distress,  and  the  som- 
bre clouds  of  misfortune  might  place  at  its  bar  for 
legal  decision. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  official  officers 


Figure  No.  1.  The  five  judges,  who  sit  on  this  trial  of  the  eleven  disciples, 
for  robbing  the  sepulchre. 

No.  2.  The  states-attorney  pleading  against  the  disciples. 

No.  3.  The  twelve  jurors  panelled. 

No.  4,  The  eleven  disciples  chained  in  the  criminal's  box  at  the  bar  of  the 
court. 

No.  5.  Carnal  Reason  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ. 

No.  6.  Philosophy  -with  her  telescope  viewing  the  marvellous  things  in 
ti»e  age  of  Reason. 

No.  7.  The  Jewish  and  Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  wish  the 
downfal  of  Christ,  his  church  and  people. 


S64  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

were  at  their  locations,  and  the  large  gallery,  No.  7, 
on  the  left  of  the  court,  was  overflowing  with  Jewish 
and  Deistical  spectators,  mostly  of  the  patrician  [or 
higher]  orders  of  society — and  also,  the  two  wise  ladies, 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  w^ere  at  their  stations  in  the 
galleries  ;  [the  reader  can  take  a  peering  view  at  those 
ladies  in  the  gallery  No.  .5  6l  6,]  the  court  now  being 
in  readiness,  and  a  profound  silence  reigning  for  a  few 
minutes,  the  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  the  high  sheriff 
of  Rome,  with  other  civil  officers  of  the  law,  brought 
the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ  and  placed  them  in  the 
old  criminal's  box,  before  the  bar. 

The  feigned  commiseration  and  assumed  sensibility 
of  the  states-attorney,  at  the  nebulous  atmosphere  that 
hung  over  the  heads  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  and 
the  almost  hopeless  caiise  of  the  eleven  disciples,  with 
the  truth  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  following 
close  in  the  deleterious  wake — driven  by  the  furious 
blasts  of  carnal  Reason  and  vain  Philosophy,  almost 
out  of  the  world.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the 
prisoners  were  all  in  the  criminal's  box,  and  the  five 
judges  waiting  in  solemn  silence  on  the  bench,  and  the 
whole  court  with  the  spectators  iif  the  great  gallery, 
and  the  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy  in  the  small 
gallery,  which  the  benign  indulgence  of  the  judges  had 
caused  to  be  fitted  up,  and  also  placed  at  the  ladies' 
entire  service,  and  the  plebeian  throng,  or  the  lower 
orders  of  the  Roman  poople,  who  were  more  or  less  in 
favour  of  divine  revelation,  and  had  a  little  enthusias- 
tic predilection  for  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality,  of 
what  is  commonly  called  the  human  soul.  Now,  when 
these  poor  wretches,  who  have  but  small  prospects  of 
mundane  felicity,  (this,  reader,  is  the  polite  etiquette  of 
Hume,  Gibbon,  A^oltaire,  Volney,  and  a  host  of  others, 
against  the  poor  followers  of  Christ,)  had  filled  the  great 
areas  and  small  isles  of  the  court,  to  a  state  of  over- 
flowing, that  the  clerk  of  the  court  commanded  silence. 
And  when  this  still  element  had  pervaded  the  whole 
court,  his  learned  honour,  the  states-general,  rose — and 
first,  like  a  fine  Peacock  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  (or  just 


i 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  265 

like  our  modern  philosophy,)  spread  his  forensick  plu- 
mage before  the  bar  of  the  court;  and  then  with  the 
urbanity  of  a  finished  barrister  of  the  Roman  bar,  he 
in  an  easy  and  handsome  manner,  turned  himself,  so  as 
to  face  both  the  judges  and  jury — having  his  notes  on  the 
table  before  him,  and  the  bills  of  indictment  in  his  left 
hand  :  then  made  an  easy  inclination  of  his  forensick 
form  to  the  court,  as  it  were,  by  the  springs  and  other 
ingenious  machinery  of  his  profession,  he  simultane- 
ously surcharged  his  countenance  with  a  glow  of 
Roman  philanthropy.  His  honour  being,  no  doubt,  in 
the  felicitous  possession  of  the  arcanum  and  complica- 
ted inner  works  of  a  crocodile's  commiserating  heart, 
when  that  subdolous  animal  wishes  to  ingulph  its  prey 
within  its  deathly  jaws.  [Just  so,  reader,  Infidelittj, 
under  this  figure  of  a  state's  attorney,  who  subdolously 
wishes  to  devour  the  gospel  of  God  our  Saviour,  in  its 
insatiable  and  philosophical  jaws.]  When  the  states- 
attorney,  by  this  crocodile  eflbrt  of  his  false  and  hypo- 
critical pendulous  lever,  called  in  common  language  the 
tongue,  which  was  propelled  against  the  poor  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  and  the  sacred  cause  of  truth  in  general,  by 
an  high  pressure  of  the  steam  of  vanity :  [just  like  all 
the  Deistical  infidels  in  this  age  of  Reason  and  Philoso- 
phy,] which  set  the  learned  counsel's  upper  works  in 
full  locomotion,  so  that  he  changed  his  ground  from  a 
vituperating  states-general,  to  that  of  a  sympathizing 
friend,  when  he  threw  out  a  few  drops  of  law  clemency, 
which  at  the  same  time  presented  the  altitude  of  his 
forensick  sensibility — as  it  raised  the  crystal  fountain 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  legal  head ;  which  for  a 
short  season,  really  presented  to  the  vision  of  the  court, 
a  state  of  commiseration  almost  overflowing  its  legal 
banks.  The  immediate  effect  was,  that  it  soon  filled 
the  whole  court  with  the  distilling  dew  of  his  forensick 
compassion.  And  as  those  dew  drops  descended  from 
his  crystal  fountain,  by  the  physical  law  of  gravity, 
when  to  all  human  appearance  he  was  verging  to  a 
legal  cataract  of  disgrace,   and  at  the  very  point  to 


366  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

unman  himself,  in  the  presence  of  this  high  court  of  law 
and  inquest ;  but  nevertheless,  as  the  guardians  aloft, 
or  what  christians  call  providence,  would  have  it,  the 
crown  barrister  very  timely  bethought  himself  of  his 
white  cambrick  handkerchief;  which,  by  the  speedy  ap- 
plication of  this  spongy  absorbent,  the  crocodile  tears 
were  by  a  reaction  on  the  perennial  waters  of  sorrow, 
soon  dried  up ;  when  the  learned  barrister  fortunately 
recovered  his  legal  manhood  again. 

The  states-general  makes  a  few  prefatory  remarks 
to  this  high  court,  on  his  commencing  his  pleading 
against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  that  is,  the  eleven  dis- 
ciples of  Christ ; — when  it  happened,  perhaps  by  mere 
chance,  that  he  made  use  of  an  uncourtly  figure,  [which 
like  the  owl,  that  perched  itself  at  noon-day  on  the 
civick  altar  before  Herod,  arrayed  in  royal  apparel, 
as  he  sat  upon  his  throne  and  made  an  eloquent  oration 
to  his  vain  admirers  ;  the  sight  of  which,  caused  Herod 
to  give  up  the  ghost ;  and  by  the  obreptitious  laws  of 
locomotion,  under  the  chariot  wheels  of  death,  to  change 
his  location  from  a  throne  of  purple,  to  present  the 
worms  of  the  earth  with  a  rare  and  delicious  feast.] 
The  frightful  owl  or  terrifying  hieroglyphic,  his  learn- 
ed honour  made  use  of  was  this,  that  the  crown  barris- 
ter at  times  might  be  overtaken  with  the  pangs  and 
struggles  (of  a  sombre  court  monster,  by  the  vulgar 
name)  of  conscience;  this  uncourtly  sententious  doctrine, 
coming  from  the  tongue  of  the  states-attorney,  did,  as  it 
were,  greatly  elicit  a  shower  of  risibility  from  the 
young  patrician  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  great  gal- 
lery of  this  court ;  when  his  learned  honour  the  crown 
lawyer,  very  handsomely  reproved  the  volatile  ladies, 
the  which  timely  admonition  coming  directly  under  the 
accommodating  agency  of  the  locomotion  of  a  lawyer's 
tongue,  soon  produced  a  most  powerful  reaction  on  the 
sensibilities  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  also  the 
twelve  jurymen;  who,  it  seems,  had  been  a  little  car- 
ried away  with  the  ladies  dissimulation,  as  they  sat  in 
the  jury-box,  and  were  seen  to  smile. 

[Here  commences  the  plea  of  the  learned  counsel,  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  267 

crown  barrister,  against  the  eleven  disciples,  the  pris- 
oners at  the  bar  of  this  court,  for  their  being  charged 
before  the  court  in  the  bills  of  indictment,  for  robbing 
the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  states-attorney  rose, 
and  boldly  facing  the  five  judges  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  thus  addressed  the  court,  by  saying,  May  it 
please  your  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  I  am,  your  honours  and  the  jury,  very  well 
know,  the  legal  organ  of  the  law,  at  the  bar  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest ;  and  also  the  only  authorized 
agent  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  to  legally  conduct  the 
prosecution  that  lies  imbeded  in  the  bills  of  indictment, 
before  your  learned  honours,  against  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  and  is  called  up  for  trial  this  day — that  is,  the 
action  pending  at  the  solemn  bar  of  this  court.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  the  court,  I  do  this  day  experience^ 
in  all  good  conscience,  [at  which  uncourtly  idea,  and 
unusual  court  language,  the  young  Jewish  and  Deisti- 
cal  gentlemen  in  the  gallery,  both  blushed  and  smiled 
at  the  ladies,  so  that  the  risible  elements,  by  the  laws 
of  locomotion,  left  the  countenances  of  the  Jewish  and 
Deistical  gentlemen,  and  wonderfully  surcharged  the 
crystal  fountains  of  the  ladies,  of  the  same  cast;  when 
as  we  have  just  said,  the  grave  jurymen  gave  a  smile 
also;  when  there  fell  a  copious  shower  of  fastidious  risi- 
bility from  the  ladies,  on  the  head  of  the  crown  barris- 
ter, in  consequence  of  his  being  the  agent,  of  introducing 
such  an  illegitimate  oflfspring  into  court:  when  the  ladies 
in  a  kind  of  soliloquy,  forecast  in  their  minds,  that  cer- 
tainly doctor  Conscience  must  be  the  unlawful  fruit,  of 
the  congress  of  some  strange  and  metaphysical  amal- 
gamation of  law  and  theology  together,  born  without 
the  purlieu  of  philosophical  wedlock ;]  when  the  states- 
attorney  iterated — I  experience  a  willingness  to  show 
the  prisoners,  who  are  called  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
every  lawful  degree  of  court  indulgence  and  forensick 
clemency,  consistent  with  the  sanction  of  the  law,  and 
the  dignity  and  glory  of  my  sovereign's  throne;  so  that, 
please  this  court,  before  I  shall  proceed  with  pleading 


268  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

against  the  prisoners,  to  allow  them  to  call  in,  by  coun- 
sel and  otherwise,  the  witnesses  that  have  testified 
to  their  guilt,  in  order  to  cross-examine  them :  so  that, 
please  the  court,  as  I  have  once  said,  I  experience  a 
powerful  predilection  to  again  iterate  the  declaration, 
that  in  all  good  conscience,  I  do  desire  to  see  the  pris- 
oners, at  the  bar  of  this  court,  fairly  and  impartially 
dealt  with.  And  as  I  am  in  duty  bound,  from  the  laws 
of  good  breeding  and  the  gallantry  of  a  Roman  gentle- 
man, I  shall  fondly  hope,  that  those  elegant  and  lovely 
patrician  ladies,  in  the  great  gallery,  will  not  nullify 
themselves  any  more,  in  the  presence  of  this  high  court 
of  chancery,  of  that  female  dignity  and  sensibility  of 
character,  which  has  heretofore,  aKvays  presented  a 
brilliant  star,  in  the  family  escutcheons  of  the  young 
ladies  of  the  Roman  empire.  Therefore,  I  shall  obse- 
quiously pray  the  young  ladies,  not  to  smile  at  the  soli- 
tary idea,  of  a  crown  barrister  having,  at  times,  to  en- 
dure the  pangs  of  an  uneasy  conscience.  For,  young 
ladies,  I  can  humbl)^  assure  you,  that  we  lawyers  stand 
in  as  great  need  of  that  tender  guardian  in  our  hearts, 
as  well  as  the  young  ladies  need  the  guide  of  conscience, 
to  preserve  them  fi'om  the  deleterious  fangs  of  those, 
who  with  constuperating  designs,  are  always  seeking 
your  disgrace  and  ruin.  But,  young  ladies,  both  of  the 
Jewish  and  Deistical  families,  I  should  rather  have 
thought,  that  as  the  sombre  cause,  now  pending  at  the 
bar  of  this  court  to  day,  is  on  life  and  death — so  that  I 
was  indeed,  ladies,  in  my  forensick  views,  led  to  draw 
this  conclusion,  that  it  would  be  rather  more  becoming 
the  finer  sensibilities  of  well  educated  young  ladies,  of 
patrician  birth  and  honourable  blood,  to  have  expe- 
rienced some  dolorous  sensations,  at  the  sombreness  of 
the  atmosphere  in  court  this  day :  and  how  much  more 
becoming  the  finer  sensibilities  of  the  young  ladies,  in 
the  great  gallery  of  this  court  this  day,  would  it  have 
been,  for  you  to  have  let  gently  fall  the  commiserating 
tear,  till  ladies,  instead  of  volatile  laughter,  at  my  con- 
scientious exercise  of  mind,  those  tears  had  formed  a 
fountain  in  the  upper  region  of  your  minds,  so  as  to 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  ^269 

overflow  its  physical  and  mental  purlieu,  and  the  little 
rushing  currents  had  almost  excavated  channels  on 
your  countenances,  that  vied  with  the  rose  of  Sharon ; 
or  else,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  old  Jewish  sages, 
you  had  sung  one  of  his  dolorous  stanzas:  *'Let  tears 
run  down  like  a  riyer,  day  and  night :  give  thyself  no 
rest ;  let  not  the  apple  of  thine  eye  cease."  This  sage 
is  said  to  have  sung  this  sombre  canticle,  when  with 
his  prophetic  eye,  he  viewed  the  impending  ruin  of  his 
people.  I  shall  therefore,  ladies,  in  the  great  gallery 
of  this  court,  gratuitously  indulge  the  fond  hope,  that  I 
shall  not  have  my  humane  sensibilities  disturbed  any 
more,  during  this  solemn  trial,  by  your  volatile  spirits 
and  risible  "countenances,  while  this  mysterious  and 
subdolous  trial  is  pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court  of 
law  and  inquest. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  well  timed  moral  phi- 
lippick  of  the  states-attorney,  caused  a  sudden  reaction 
on  the  delicate  and  moral  sensibilities  of  the  ladies  in 
the  great  gallery,  in  consequence  of  the  crow*  barris- 
ter's sensible  and  moral  reproof,  which  produced  a 
simultaneous  flow  of  tears  from  all  the  ladies  in  court ; 
the  humidity  of  which,  collecting  itself  in  a  dense  cloud, 
so  filled  thecourt,  that  the  light  of  the  natural  sun  was, 
as  it  were,  in  some  measure  obscurated  ;  but  the  at- 
tending officer  in  court,  by  immediately  throwing  open 
the  windows,  the  damp  air  soon  evaporated,  and  there 
was  no  moie  smiling  during  this  mysterious  trial. 

After  the  states-attorney  had  sat  down,  in  order  to 
give  the  prisoners  time  to  impugn,  by  counsel  or  other- 
wise, the  evidence  which  the  Roman  guards  had  given 
in  against  them — the  disciples  forecastingin  theirminds, 
that  if  they  should  even  attempt  to  open  their  mouths, 
before  this  high  and  learned  court  of  wisdom  and  for- 
ensick  knowledge,  it  would  be  viewed  by  the  court  as  ir- 
relevant: when  the  prisoners  wisely  concluded,  that  the 
ruthless  idioms  of  their  Galilean  or  vernacular  tongue, 
would  very  soon  expose  their  plebeian  birth,  and 
at  the  same  time  manifest  to  the  whole  court,  and  also 
to  the  wise  and  philosophical  part  of  mankind,  their  ej^^ 

7,2 


270  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

treme  ignorance  of  science,  of  philosophy,  of  law,  and 
in  a  word,  of  men  and  things,  in  general ;  when  the 
poor  prisoners  at  the  bar  drew  this  wise  and  prudent 
inference,  that  at  this  critical  juncture  of  their  trial,  it 
would  be  most  advisable  for  them  to  follow  as  close  in 
the  w^ake  of  their  master,  when  he^  stood  bound  as  a 
malefactor  at  Pilate's  bar — that  is  :  "  they  answered  to 
never  a  word,"  in  their  own  vindication ;  so  that  the 
whole  court  greatly  marvelled,  and  were  somewhat 
astounded  at  their  stoical  insensibility,  of  either  their 
own  guilt  or  innocence. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  states-attorney  had 
w^aited,  what  he  thought  a  reasonable  time,  and  that 
the  disciples  sat  mute  in  the  criminal's  box — his  honour 
rose,  and  wdth  an  outward  show  of  voluntary  humility 
and  legal  clemency,  very  obsequiously  informed  the 
court,  and  also  through  it  as  a  channel,  the  whole  world, 
of  the  impartiality  of  its  legal  proceedings,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  this  mysterious  cause,  now  pending  at  the  bar 
of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest.  And  as  your 
learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the  impartial  jury  in 
the  box,  are  all  witnesses  of  the  clemency  and  indul- 
gence I  have  shown  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  who  are 
called  the  disciples  of  Christ  ;  therefore,  it  must  be 
evident  to  your  learned  honours,  that  some  constupera- 
ting  malady,  of  a  superstitious  and  enthusiastic  charac- 
ter, has  imbued  their  minds  with  the  most  iron-bound 
and  stoical  insensibility,  which  leads'  them  to  disre- 
gard their  imminent  danger;  and  with  a  nebulous 
canopy  that  has  spread  itself  over  their  physical  and 
mental  vision,  to  overlook  their  alarming  situation.  I 
shall  now,  as  a  crown  officer,  and  the  humble  servant 
of  my  legitimate  sovereign  and  the  laws  of  his  realm, 
proceed  in  a  faithful  and  conscientious  discharge  of  the 
onerous  duties,  which  I  owe  to  my  liege  sovereign,  my 
country,  and  the  civick  altars  of  my  gods. 

His  learned  honour,  the  states-general,  then  went 
on  to  discharge  that  share  of  law  service,  which  his 
high  office  imposed  on  him,  and  said :  May  it  please 
your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  271 

by  your  patience  and  indulgence,  I  shall  proceed  to 
take  up  the  allegations  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
in  the  consecutive  order  I  find  them  in  the  indictment 
I  hold  in  my  hand.  The  learned  barrister  then  went 
very  ingeniously  to  work,  and  placed  each  specification 
before  the  court,  in  the  flowing  language  and  harmo- 
nious notes  of  an  ancient  Cicero,  and  with  the  intona- 
tion and  herculean  strength  of  a  prostrating  Demos- 
thenes. His  accumen  coming  down  on  the  minds  of 
the  court,  with  an  almost  irresistible  force;  and  his 
argumants,  at  intervals,  accompanied  with  the  scintilla- 
ting fire  of  his  forensick  mind,  just  like  the  rushing 
element  of  some  lofty  cataract,  that  had  been  gathering 
its  w^aters  from  the  tributary  streams  in  the  surround- 
ing country,  for  many  years:  just  so  was  the  rushing 
and  overwhelming  arguments  of  the  crown  barrister ! 
w^hich,  for  the  moment,  prostrated  the  legal  views  of 
the  court  into  the  vortex,  that  seemed  to  establish  the 
prisoners'  (that  is  the  disciples')  guilt ;  in  their  being 
the  very  persons  that  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the  cru- 
cified body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  his  overwhelming  logick, 
and  irrefragable  ratiocination,  came  down  with  such 
vivid  flashes  of  conviction,  not  only  on  the  minds  of  the 
judges  and  jury,  but  also  on  the  minds  of  all  the  Jewish 
and  Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  great  gallery ; 
(No.  7,  see  the  plate,)  and  also,  the  two  ladies  Reason 
and  Philosophy,  in  the  small  gallery.  (See  No.  5.  &  6.) 
When  all  the  different  characters,  which  constituted 
the  clashing  interest  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  in- 
quest, said  in?  a  soliloquy,  surely  the  most  sombre 
clouds  of  suspicion,  and  the  darkest  spots  of  crime, 
cover  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  with  a  sable  mantle  of 
the  most  constuperating  disgrace;  and  will  envelop 
both  their  persons  and  characters  for  ever,  in  the  most 
interminable  ruin.  They,  surely,  are  the  blackest 
wretches  in  the  civil  and  moral  world ;  and  their  crimes 
are  enough  to  overwhelm  them  in  the  waves  of  the 
black  and  foaming  sea  of  ruin  and  disgrace  forever. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  his  learned  honour,  the 


372  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

crown  barrister,  had  pointed  out  to  the  court  all  the  dark 
spots  of  guilt  which  laid  so  deeply  imbeded  in  the  three 
allegations  in  the  bills  of  indictment,  which  the  states- 
attorney  more  particularly  set  forth  on  the  first  day  of 
the  trial  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar :  especially,  when 
the  learned   barrister  touched  the  fraudulent  designs, 
which  the  prisoners  had  in  view,  in  robbing  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ :  when  the  states- 
attorney  said,  please  your  honours  the  judges  and  jury, 
I  shall  but  just  touch  the  moral  turpitude,  which  lies 
coiled,  serpent-like,  with  its  concealed  venom  and  most 
deadly  poison,  and  so  deeply  imbeded  at  the  bottom  of 
this  obreptitious  scheme  and  insidious  design — covered 
under  a  sable  canopy,  of  the  most  strange  and  unheard 
of  falsehoods,  that  ever  met  the  audibility  of  the  human 
ear :  to  wit,  that  a  man  that  was  publicly  put  to  death, 
in  the  presence  of  thousands  of  spectators — by  being 
crucified  on  a  Roman  cross,  should  come  to  life !  ap- 
pears, please  your  learned  honours,  to  out-toj)  the  very 
climax  of  superstition  and  enthusiastic  folly  !    I  shall 
therefore  onerously  pray  this  court,  to  take  an  excur- 
sive view  of  the  vast  field  of  future  consequences,  which 
naturally  forces  itself  on  the  intelligent  and  enlightened 
minds  of  the  court,  in  order  to  duly  appreciate  the 
plenary  acme  of  the  prisoners'  guilt,  which  lies  so  deeply 
coiled  in  the  black  arcanum  of  their  demoniacal  design, 
of  imposing  [what  some  call]  a  pious  and  sacrilegious 
fraud,  on  the  whole  world  of  mankind,  that  ever  since 
the  actions,  words  and  designs  of  men,  have  been  pre- 
sented to  our  view,  by  the  pen  of  the  faithful  historian. 
Therefore,  please  your  honours,  from  the  mere  epitome 
I  have  given  the  court  this  day,  of  the  guilt  of  the 
prisoners,  (who  are  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,)  I  do 
experience   the   most   powerful    volition   in  my   legal 
mind,  to  imperatively  charge  the  court  and  especially 
the  jury,  to  bring  their  verdict  to  the  bar  of  this  court, 
based  on  the  unanimous  and  indubitable  testimony  of 
the  Roman  guards,  which  your  honours  well  know,  in 
a  collateral  sense,  was  fully  supported,  in  the  cases  of 
his  holiness,  Caiaphas,  and  Pilate   the  governor,      \ 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  273 

therefore  iterate  in  the  audibility  of  your  honours  the 
judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  it  will  be 
the  onerous  duty  of  this  court,  to  find  a  verdict  o^ guilty y 
against  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  who  are  called 
the  disciples  of  Christ.  Their  guilt  having  been  fully 
confirmed  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  by  the  unclashing 
and  incontesiible  evidence  of  the  royal  guards :  yes, 
may  it  please  the  court,  when  we  for  a  moment  view 
the  world  of  trouble,  which  these  subdolous  wretches, 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  have  given  us,  in  trying  to 
spread  that  superstitious  malady  throughout  the  world  ; 
(called  the  Gospel,)  tormenting  the  liege  subjects  of  our 
lord  the  emperor,  with  the  enthusiastic  and  superstitious 
category  of  the  souVs  immortality,  and  man's  moral  ac- 
countability, to  some  invisible  being,  that  we,  rational 
and  intelligent  creatures,  in  this  mundane  dispensation, 
have  never  seen,  and  therefore  are  not  bound  to  believe. 
I  will  not  consume  the  time  of  this  court  any  longer,  by 
taking  up  the  three  specifications  in  the  indictment  one 
by  one  ;  as  no  doubt,  your  learned  honours  may  re- 
member, that  I  have  already  done  it,  before  the  bar  of 
this  court,  when  1  first  called  the  prisoners  up,  and 
read  over  to  them,  consecutively,  the  charges  in  the 
indictment ;  and  legally  expatiated  on  the  altitude  of 
their  guilt;  which  are  so  insidiously  blended  with  the 
three  allegations  preferred  against  them,  in  the  bills  of 
indictment,  that  please  the  court,  the  grand-jury,  in 
their  profound  wisdom  and  knov/ledge,  have  found 
against  them.  Therefore,  in  closing  my  remarks, 
against  the  high  handed  crimes  of  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  in  the  defence  of  the  laws  and  government  of  my 
sovereign's  empire,  I  shall  now  press  the  court  and 
jury,  to  keep  in  mind  my  legal  remarks  before  them ; 
so  that  the  mind  of  the  court,  but  especially  the  jury, 
may  be  entirely  free  from  a  state  of  nudity,  in  all 
necessary  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  men  and 
things  ;  so  that  the  court  and  jury,  present  no  weak 
nor  unclothed  part,  to  the  altars  of  truth  and  justice, 
when  the  verdict  of  the  prisoners'  guilt,  by  the  jury  in 


274  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  box,  shall  be  given  in  at  the  bar  of  this  court  of 
law  and  inquest. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  crown  barrister  had 
given  a  statistical  prospectus  of  the  demoralizing  de- 
signs of  the  subdolous  prisoners  at  the  bar,  which  the 
learned  counsel,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown  said,  exhibit- 
ed the  vilest  sacrilegious  turpitude,  infused  into  their 
minds,  from  the  venom  of  the  basest  passions,  rising  out 
of  the  most  vitiated  and  constuperating  disease,  of  the 
hearts  of  the  vilest  of  men. 

The  states-attorney  then  sat  down  ;  and  the  chief 
judge  signified  to  the  court,  that  the  hour  to  adjourn 
had,  according  to  the  hieroglyphicks  on  the  dial  of  the 
court-house,  fully  arrived ;  when  the  prisoners  were 
all  remanded  to  the  states-prison  again,  and  the  court 
stood  adjourned,  to  meet  in  the  same  place  the  next 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


275' 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  nineteenth  day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre, of  the  crvcijied  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  nineteenth  day  of  this  trial,  the  doors  of  the  court 
of  Areopagus  being  open,  the  plain  carriage  of  the 
ladies,  Reason  and  Philosophy,  drove  up  in  front  of 
the  court;  and  the  ladies  having,  by  the  aid  of  some  of 
the  court  officers,  alighted,  were  conducted  into  the 
small  gallery,  which  had  been  by  the  special  favour  of 
the  court,  appropriated  to  their  entire  accommodation, 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  chief  Judge  giving  his  solemn  charge  to  the  jury  on  the 
guilt  of  the  prisonei  s,  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ,  for  stealing  his  cruci- 
fied body  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

No.  2.    1  he  twelve  jurymen  affirmed  and  panelled  in  the  hox. 

Ko.  3.  The  eleven  disciples  chained  in  the  criminal's  box. 

Kg.  4.  Reason  and  Philosophy,  the  former  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at 
the  cross,  the  latter  -with  her  telescope  viewing  the  stars  in  the  age  of  Reason, 
and  in  a  soliloquy,  saying  to  her  precious  and  immortal  soul,  take  thine  ease, 
and  be  fully  satisfied -with  the  -wonders  seen  in  the  philosophical  heavens,  of 
the  age  of  Reason. 

No.  5.  The  Ptates-general  faking  his  notes.  '■■ 

No.  6.  The  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Jewish  and  Deistical  birth  aud 
noble  blood,  who  hate  Christ  and  Immortality. 


276  ClIllIST  REJECTED. 

with  their  two  private  secretaries,  lady  hardness  of 
heart,  and  lady  unbelief — the  ladies  of  honour,  w^ho 
waited  on  their  serene  highnesses.  No  sooner  were 
those  two  ladies  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  seated, 
than  the  almost  numberless  carriages  of  Jewish  and 
Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  drove  up  in  front  of  the 
court,  and  were  most  handsomely  assisted  in  alighting 
by  the  philosophical  gentlemen  of  the  court ;  and  then, 
with  fine  etiquette  and  graceful  manners,  inducted  into 
the  great  gallery ;  and  directly  after,  the  five  judges 
and  lawyers  arrived,  and  took  their  seats  at  their  official 
locations;  and  in  a  few  minutes  after,  the  high  marshal, 
w^ith  the  sherift'  of  Rome,  and  some  other  oflicers  of  the 
states-prison,  brought  into  court  the  eleven  disciples  of 
Christ,  chained  together,  and  placed  them  in  the  crimi- 
nal's box,  at  the  solemn  bar  of  this  court  of  law  and 
inquest.  The  crier  of  the  court,  in  usual  form  having 
offered  up  his  vocal  holocaust,  of.  May  the  gods  save 
the  emperor  and  commonwealth,  he  then  commanded 
silence.  And  as  soon  as  the  peaceful  elements  pervaded 
the  court,  his  learned  honour,  the  chief  judge,  asked  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  whether  they  had,  by  this  time, 
provided  themselves  wdth  an  advocate,  or  any  legal 
counsel,  to  plead  their  cause,  before  he  proceeded  to 
deliver  his  charge  to  the  jury.  The  prisoners  replied 
in  the  negative ;  that  they  had  neither  money  nor 
friends,  in  this  sombre  dispensation,  to  obtain  any  legal 
advocate  to  plead  their  cause  :  and  as  they  had  said  in 
the  commencement  of  their  trial,  they  were  imperiously 
propelled,  from  the  lowering  clouds  of  adversity,  to  cast 
themselves  once  more  on  the  justice  and  mercy  of  the 
court.  (The  reader  will  be  so  kind  as  to  bear  in  mind, 
if  he  please,  that  in  those  early  ages,  the  civil  rulers  of 
the  earth  did  not  provide  funds  to  remunerate  an  ad- 
vocate, or  counsel  to  defend,  with  the  panoply  of  truth 
and  justice,  against  false  witnesses,  in  a  supposed  male- 
factor's case  ;  or  to  justify  the  character  of  an  innocent 
prisoner  at  the  bar  of  civil  courts,  when  the  accused 
had  neither  friends  nor  money  to  obtain  counsel  for 
himself.) 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  277 

The  names  of  the  jury  being  called  over,  and  an 
answer  by  each  man  given  to  his  own  name,  as  follows : 
Lord  Herbert,  Hobbes,  Blount,  Tindal,  Woolston, 
Toland,  Collins,  Chubb,  Hume,  Gibbon,  Voltaire,  and 
Rousseau.  The  chief  judge,  in  the  behalf  of  himself 
and  his  associate  judges  on  the  bench,  delivers  his 
legal  opinion  to  the  court,  and  his  solemn  charge  to  the 
jury,  both  on  the  nature  and  forensick  character  of  the 
three  crimes,  that  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  commonly 
called  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ,  are  charged  with 
being  guilty  of;  when  the  judge  also  lays  down  before 
the  court  and  jury,  both  the  degree  and  character  of 
the  punishment,  which  the  law  of  the  Roman  empire 
prescribes  for  the  condign  reward  of  such  high  hand- 
ed transgressors. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  his  learned  honour  the 
chief  judge  rose,  and  proceeded  in  the  legal  discharge 
of  his  official  duty.  His  honour  then  took  up  the  whole 
range  of  the  trials;  to  wit — commencing  from  the  first 
day  of  the  court  term,  and  also  the  case  of  the  first 
prisoner  that  had  been  tried  before  the  bar  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest — by  consecutively  placing 
before  the  court  and  jury,  all  the  prisoners  that  had 
been  tried,  and  the  nature  and  character  of  the  charges ; 
and  witnesses  that  had  appeared  (in  each  prisoners 
separate  trial)  against  them. 

His  honour  first  brought  in  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  to  view.  The  second  prisoner  the  judge  re- 
minded the  court  and  jury  of,  was  Caiaphas,  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews ; — the  third  prisoner  his  honour  re- 
freshed the  mind  of  the  court  w^ith,  was  Pontius  Pilate; 
the  fourth  prisoner,  the  judge  pressed  the  mind  of  the 
court  and  jury  with,  was  the  centurion.  He  then  v/ent 
on  to  show  the  court  and  jury,  in  a  very  lucid  summary, 
the  clemency,  and  impartiality  of  this  high  court  of 
chancery,  towards  all  the  former  prisoners,  who  had 
been  either  from  true  or  vague  reports,  implicated  in 
the  sacrilegious  robbery  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 
When  the  judge  took  up  the  case  of  the  first  prisoner, 
which  the  consecutive  order  of  the  bills  of  indictment 

2a 


278  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

called  up  to  the  bar  of  the  court,  viz.  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ ;  when  he  reminded  the  court  and  jury, 
of  the  high-steam  of  legal  rectitude,  as  well  as  the 
milder  elements  of  forensick  clemency,  which  the  court 
had  manifested  towards  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ; 
so  that  when  there  was  nothing  brought  against  the 
lost  body  of  Christ,  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  but 
mere  postulatory,  or,  if  the  court  and  jury  prefer  the 
phraseology  better,  the  mere  presumptive  evidence, 
against  the  loss  or  escape  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre — this  impartial  court,  most 
religiously  and  strictly  adhering  to  the  noble  Magna- 
Charta  of  the  old  Roman  law,  and  the  philanthropic 
principles  of  all  its  citizens,  to  wit :  that  our  law  holds 
all  men  innocent,  till  by  substantial  testimony  and  in- 
dubitable evidence,  they  are  proved  to  be  guilty. 
Therefore,  I  wish  the  court  and  jury  to  bear  in  mind, 
that  in  the  case  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  that 
was  held  in  durance,  hy  proxy,  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
was  honourably  discharged  from  any  further  durance, 
either  by  person,  proxy  or  otherwise,  before  the  bar  of 
this  or  any  other  court,  in  the  Roman  empire,  holding 
judiciary  power  over  the  persons,  estates,  and  lives  of 
Roman  citizens. 

The  court  and  jury,  said  the  judge,  will  permit  me 
in  the  case  of  the  second  prisoner  examined  and  tried 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  to  surcharge  their  memories, 
in  the  case  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews  : 
that  after  the  closest  and  most  assiduous  investigation, 
that  came  within  the  ecclesiastical  purlieu  of  that  part 
of  the  theological  drama,  which  his  holiness  acted, 
while  the  sombre  catasti'ophe  passed  over  his  religious 
hierarchy,  so  that  this  court  from  the  most  impartial 
examination  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews' 
case,  was,  please  this  court  and  jury,  most  fully  con- 
vinced, that  his  pontifical  honour  was  perfectly  inno- 
cent of  the  charges  and  specifications  in  the  bills  of  in- 
dictment ;  which  embraced  the  sad  and  distressing  loss 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  out  of  the  sepulchre. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  279 

The  court  then  gave  his  holiness  a  full  and  honourable 
discharge. 

I  shall  still  embargo  the  retentive  faculties  of  this 
court,  to  further  bear  in  view',  that  the  third  prisoner 
arraigned  and  tried  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  was 
his  excellency  Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor  of 
Judea.  I  wish  the  jury  to  bear  in  mind,  in  Pilate's 
case,  as  well  as  in  thatof  Caiaphas',  that  after  the  most 
sedulous  and  impartial  investigation  of  Pilate's  case, 
the  court  was  fully  convinced,  that  there  was  no  legal 
or  substantial  evidence,  against  his  excellency  :  and  the 
court  gave  Pilate  an  honourable  discharge. 

This  court  will,  I  shall  gratuitously  take  it  for  grant- 
ed, indulge  me  with  its  retentive  patience  and  profound 
attention,  while  I  onerously  charge  the  jury  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  fourth  prisoner  who  was  arraigned  fat 
the  bar  of  this  court,  was  his  military  honour  the  Cen- 
turion, an  officer  of  rank  in  the  Roman  army.  Now,  I 
charge  the  court  and  jury,  to  keep  its  mind  staidly 
converged  in  his  case,  so  that  the  jury  may  have  an 
impartial  view  of  the  justice,  mercy  and  clemency  of 
the  court,  in  his  case.  That  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  did  receive  the  most  full  and  satisfactory 
evidence,  that  the  Centurion  was  not  only  innocent  of 
the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  but  that  his  examination 
gave  the  court  almost  a  flood  of  presumptive,  circum- 
stantial, and  indeed  substantial  evidence,  that  the  cen- 
turion did,  in  the  most  plenary  sense,  which  we  as 
judges  can  possibly  form  of  any  Roman  officer — fulfill- 
ing all  the  functions  of  his  office  with  fidelity  ;  so  that 
this  court  was  fully  convinced,  that  the  centurion  acted 
out  his  full  share  of  military  duty,  in  order,  if  it  were 
possible,  to  retain  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  in  safe 
durance  in  the  sepulchre,  forever.  Therefore  the  jury 
will  be  kind  enough  to  bear  in  mind,  that  this  court, 
while  it  kept  its  legal  eye  on  the  polar  star  of  impar- 
tiality, was  led,  from  an  onerous  sense  of  justice  and 
truth,  to  give  the  centurion  a  full  and  honourable  dis- 
charge. 

The  chief  judge  further  said :  I  view  it  this  morn- 


280  CHRIST  REJECTED, 

ing  as  my  official  duty,  to  place  before  this  court  and 
jury,  a  summary  of  the  trials  of  the  four  prisoners,  that 
this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest  have  most  honourably 
acquitted,  before  I  proceed  to  give   my   judgment  on 
the  case  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar :  so  that  the  court 
and  jury,  with  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  the  great 
gallery,  and  the  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy,  (which 
some  say,  are  two  lovely  twin   sisters,)  in  the  small 
gallery,  with  the  whole  world  of  mankind,  may  take  a 
view  of  this  court's   most  rigid  adherence  to  the  old 
principles  of  Roman  impartiality ;  while  at  the  same 
time  it  tenaciously  holds  on  the  golden  altars  of  truth 
and  justice,  with  the  adhesive  principles  of  old  Roman 
virtues.     And  I  can  this  day,  with  I  trust  a  full  share 
of  legal  truth,  announce  to  the  court  and  jury,  that  this 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest  has,  as  I  have  already 
hinted,  held  on  with  indissoluble  firmness  to  the  horns 
of  our  civick  altars,  and  with  the  full  national  tenacity 
of  the  citizens  of  the  old  republic  of  Rome,  during  the 
first  twelve  days  of  this  mysterious  trial,  of  the  sad  loss 
of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  seplchre.   My 
cardinal   motive,   and  chief  object  in  thus  placing  a 
compendious  view  of  our  legal  proceedings,  in  the  four 
cases  of  the  prisoners,  which  this  court  in  its  forensick 
wisdom   and   knowledore,    has    justified    with    Roman 
honour,   is  to  give  the  jury  such  a  view  of  the  courts' 
legal  knowledge,  in  order  that  they  might  see  within 
the  range  of  its  impartiality,  and  have  an  unobstruct- 
ed vievi^  of  the  whole  legal  ground,  that  this  court  has, 
with  the  most  assiduous  mental  labour,  plodded  over  in 
their  law  sandals,  during  the  trials  of  the  four  prisoners, 
who  were  more  or  less,  through  postulatory  and  vague 
report,  implicated  in  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of 
the  body  of  Christ,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  Pontius 
Pilate,  and  the  centurion  ;  all  of  whom  this  court  of 
chancery  have  acquitted  with  Roman  honour. 

I  now  presume  the  judges  on  my  right  and  left,  with 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  clearly  see,  that  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  did  not  act  on  a  mere  postu- 
latum  of  their  innocency;  but  were  fully  satisfied  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  281 

the  guiltlessness  of  all  the  before-named  characters,  from 
the  best  testimony,  and  most  incontestible  evidence  in 
their  favour.  And  I  can  inform  the  court  and  jury, 
that  as  a  judge,  I  experience  the  same  exercise  of  for- 
ensick  philanthropy,  towards  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
who  are  called  the  disciples  of  Christ ;  but,  the  princi- 
ples of  truth  and  justice  will  not  suffer  me,  as  a  judge 
of  Roman  law,  to  indulge  the  gentle  zephyrs  of  law 
clemency,  that  are  often  whistling  through  the  finer 
rigging  of  human  nature,  at  the  expense  of  the  sanction 
of  law:  so  that  the  court  and  jury  must  see,  that  both 
law  and  fact  imperiously  lead  me  to  pursue  another 
course  with  these  malefactors,  at  the  bar,  who  stand 
fully  charged,  and  legally  indicted  of  being  guilty  of 
three  capital  crimes,  which  the  laws,  both  civil  and 
military,  of  our  sovereign  realm,  punishes  w^ith  death; 
as  the  learned  barrister  for  the  crown,  has  so  ably  set 
forth  in  his  plea  against  the  crimes  of  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar.  And  although,  please  the  jury,  this  high  court 
of  law  and  inquest  has  acted  with  so  much  impartiality, 
justice,  mercy  and  clemency,  towards  all  the  other 
parties,  who  were  more  or  less  implicated  in  this  most 
mysterious  cause,  yet  it  becomes  my  duty,  as  the  legal 
channel  of  thelaw%  to  inform  this  court  and  jury,  that 
there  is  an  altitude  in  the  horizon  of  justice,  of  which 
the  cardinal  point  on  the  compass  of  truth,  does  oner- 
ously and  solemnly  warn  us,  to  beware  of  passing  the 
line  of  legal  demarcation.  So  that  the  court,  Avith  the 
jury,  will  perceive,  that  the  instructive  voice  of  wisdom 
and  prudence,  is  sounding  in  the  ears  of  every  person 
of  common  sense,  that  mercy  and  clemency  cannot, 
with  safety  to  our  legal  compact,  be  applied  to  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  without  constuperating  with  a 
demoralizing  disease,  the  virtuous  bands  of  civil  society, 
and  at  the  same  time,  destroying  the  sanction  of  all 
law,  military,  civil  and  divine.  The  court  and  jury 
may  clearly  see,  the  fatal  consequence  of  such  an  un- 
guarded axiom  in  our  courts  of  judicature,  were  society 
to  deteriorate  into  such  a  barbarous  state  of  lawless 
anarchy  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  and  the  world  at 
2a^ 


283  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

large.  Therefore,  this  court  and  jury  will  indulge  me,  to 
place  before  their  view,  this  plain  and  simple  conclusion: 
that  if  we  withhold  the  just  penalty  of  the  law,  in  such 
cases  as  the  one  now  pending  before  the  bar  of  this 
court,  we  shall  become  the  unfelicitous  agents,  of  con- 
verting our  court  houses  into  the  most  constuperating 
brothels  of  forensick  disease,  and  our  courts  of  law  and 
equity,  would  soon  become  the  very  accomplices,  with 
the  vilest  and  basest  of  mankind :  which  requires 
neither  the  wisdom  of  Solon,  nor  any  other  sage,  to 
foresee  the  deleterious  consequences. 

I  have  already  presented  the  same  doctrine,  to  the 
bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  in  Pilate's 
case :  to  wit,  that  the  innocent  and  virtuous  part  of 
society,  have  their  claims  on  all  our  courts  of  judica- 
ture ;  and  still  higher  claims  on  all  the  judiciary  de- 
cisions of  its  legal  agents.  So  that  the  stamina  of  the 
law,  which  in  its  cardinal  elements  embraces  justice, 
truth  and  equity,  as  well  as  lenity  and  mercy,  towards 
all  those  (who  are  the  aborigines  of  our  country,  or  in 
any  other  way,  cither  by  merit  or  purchase,  have  be- 
come the  lawful  citizens  of  the  Roman  empire,)  that 
either  the  arm  or  letter  of  the  law,  brings  to  its  bar  for 
adjudication.  Therefore,  this  court  and  jury  will  do 
well  to  bear  in  mind,  but  more  especially  the  jury, 
when  they  retire  to  form  their  just  and  solemn  decision, 
on  this  most  mysterious  and  interesting  cause  that,  ere 
time  with  men  began  to  this  day,  has  been  presented 
for  trial,  at  the  bar  of  our  civil  or  ecclesiastical  courts. 
The  solemn  and  onerous  duties  which  my  profession  of 
law,  and  since  I  have  been,  by  the  appointment  of  the 
government  of  my  country,  elevated  to  the  office  of  the 
chief  judge,  of  all  the  circuit  courts  in  my  sovereign's 
empire,  lays  me  under  a  special  duty,  from  the  impera- 
tive necessity  of  the  case,  to  caution,  and  even  warn 
the  jury,  not  to  indulge  the  elements  of  clemency,  nor 
for  one  moment  suffer  their  finer  feelings  of  compassion 
and  mercy,  to  obtain  such  an  ascendency  over  their 
legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  as  to 
vitiate  and  palsify  the  moral  nerves  of  the  Magna- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  2S3 

Charta  of  Roman  law,  towards  any  person  or  citizen 
of  the  empire,  that  as  a  prisoner,  may  be  by  the  legal 
officers  of  the  law,  placed  at  the  bar  of  any  of  our  civil 
or  other  courts  for  trial,  in  consequence  of  their  sombre 
appearance,  untoward  spirit,  wretched  circumstances, 
and  dolorous  condition,  under  which  either  real  or  sup- 
posed malefactors  may  be   brought,   by  the  physical 
arm  of  the  law,  to  the  judgment  seat  of  our  country. 
Therefore,  I  again  iterate  and  admonish  the  court  and 
jury,  to  take  great  cai'e,  not  to  suffer  yourselves   as  a 
court  of  justice  and  equity,  to  step  over  the  sacred  line 
of  demarcation,  which  the  holy  gods  of  truth  and  justice 
have  wisely  placed  in  our  view,  on  all  thecivick  altars 
in  our  courts ;  calling  to  us,  to  beware  that  we  do  not 
indulge,  in  moral  aberrance  from  under  the  legal  shade, 
where  the  muse  of  truth  and  justice  spreads  its  sacred, 
its  fostering  wings,  to  protect  the  virtuous,  and  shield 
the  innocent,  from  the  paws  of  the  marauding  beasts  of 
prey,  and  from  the  talons  of  the  constuperating  vultures 
of  vice.  And  I  hope  the  court  will  admit  the  relevancy 
of  my  arguments,  as  the  chief  judge,  on  this  momen- 
tous cause';  to  which,  as  I  have  more  than  once  inform- 
ed  the  court  and  jury,  that  to  this   day,  have   been 
brought  before  the  bar  of  any  of  our  courts  of  Roman 
jurisprudence,  for  adjudication  or  legal  decision;   so 
that  I  shall,   in  accordance  with  my  legal  and  official 
duties,  press  it  on  the  mind  of  the  court  and  jury,  that 
this  of  all  trials,  you  as  jurors  had  ever  been  entrusted 
with,  claims  your  calm,  but  firm  decision.    Seeing  that 
your  verdict  will  both  elicit,  and  interest  the  intelligence 
and  reflection,  of  all  the  liege  subjects  of  our  sovereign 
Tiberius'  empire,  and  indulge  me   to  add   the  whole 
world.     Therefore,  I  shall  indulge  myself,   with  my 
learned  associates  on  the  bench,  in  gratuitously  de- 
claring to  the  court  and  jury,  that  I  do  believe,  that 
both  the  mind  of  the  court  and  jury,  will  flow  into  the 
elements  of  a  counter  conclusion,  that  it  is  not  the  wish 
of  the  gods,  that  our  courts  should  administer  no  other 
attribute  but  mercy,  and  of  always  having  their  ears 
attentively  listening  to  the  soft  and  melodious  notes  of 


284  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  weeping  goddess,  over  the  false  appearances  of 
wretchedness.  No,  may  it  please  this  court  and  jury; 
the  claims  and  voice  of  our  prince,  our  country,  our 
Mafyna  Charta,  our  homes,  our  fathers  and  mothers, 
our  wives  and  our  children,  with  all  that  is  dear  and 
valuable  to  man,  calls  on  you  this  day,  to  stand  by  the 
civick  altars  of  justice,  truth  and  equity,  as  well  as  by 
the  altar  of  mercy.  So  that  I  caution  the  jury  once 
more,  not  to  suffer  the  muse  of  mercy,  with  his  soft 
plaintive  notes,  to  eradicate  from  your  minds,  the 
more  sonorous  notes  of  the  muse  of  justice,  that  is 
always  rising  from  the  base  of  the  altar,  and  soaring 
aloft,  like  a  sky-lark  on  a  summer's  morn,  singing  its 
sonorous  and  protecting  notes  to  the  muse  of  justice — 
so  that  the  jury  may  see,  as  before  noticed,  the  high 
claims  of  all  that  is  dear  and  sacred  to  man. 

These  high  considerations,  will,  I  have  no  doubt, 
sufficiently  admonish  this  wise,  intelligent  and  impar- 
tial jury,  not  to  suffer  your  minds  and  judgments,  to  be 
warped  out  of  the  straight  line  of  legal  duty,  which  the 
high  sanction  of  truth  and  justice,  have  laid  down  for 
the  line  of  demarcation,  to  direct  the  decision  of  the 
jury,  in  wisely  forming  their  verdict.  And  now  it  be- 
comes m}^  official  duty,  after  placing  these  few  prelimi- 
nary land  marks,  and  legal  points  of  the  law  compass, 
for  the  jury  to  steer  by,  to  point  out  a  few  stars,  in  the 
legal  heavens  of  the  great  INIagna  Charta  of  the  realm. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  examining  of  the  differ- 
ent degrees  and  shades,  of  the  prisoners'  guilt  who  stand 
indicted  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  for  robbing  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

1  shall  once  more  ask  the  patience  and  attention  of 
this  court,  by  placing  before  its  legal  vision  my  sanitary 
views  of  legal  justice,  in  a  mere  compendious  view  of  the 
character  of  the  prisoners'  guilt.  Therefore,  the  jury 
will  bear  in  mind,  that  the  first  crime  I  find  charged, 
and  by  indubitable  testimony  proved  against  the 
prisoners,  is  an  overt-act  against  the  military  laws  and 
government  of  Caesar,  which  the  martial  laws  of  the 
empire,  proclaim  to  be  high  treason  and  rebellion  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  285 

the  highest  grade.  This  specification  of  the  prisoners' 
crime,  lies  coloured  with  a  crimson  dye;  which  deeply 
imbeds  their  guilt,  by  going  under  the  sombre  canopy 
of  the  night,  and  as  reported  by  Caiaphas,  and  also 
proved  at  the  bar  of  this  court  by  the  royal  guards  : 
to  wit — please  the  court,  that  they  did  under  the  cover 
of  the  night,  assault  a  military  post,  strongly  guarded 
by  a  detachment  of  the  imperial  guards,  belonging  to 
the  mighty  empire  of  Rome. 

I  presume  this  enlightened  court  and  impartial  jury, 
well  know,  from  their  extensive  reading  and  general 
knowledge  of  law  and  government,  that  such  a  daring 
overt-act,  as  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  have  perpetrated, 
against  his  majesty  Tiberius,  and  all  his  liege  subjects, 
is  by  the  full  consent  and  suffrage  of  all  nations,  con- 
strued to  be  open  war.     This  view  which  I  have  taken 
of  the  prisoners'  guilt,  I  find  to  be  the  orthodox  doctrine, 
of   all  our  most  learned  annotators  of    Roman    law. 
Therefore,  the  jury  will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind,  that 
for  this  outrageous   and  daring  overt-act,  the  eleven 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  who  are,  if  reports  be  true,  those 
low  plebeian  wretches,  that  have  been  for  some  years 
past,  like  snails  obreptitiously  in  sheeps-clothing,  find- 
ing their  way  into  the  farm-houses,  hamlets,  villages, 
towns,  and  even  the  royal  cities  of  the  empire,  spread- 
ing a  spirit  of  the  most  dangerous  eflfervescence,  through- 
out the  unlettered  classes  of  society — condemning  the 
doctrines  of  all  the  divinities  of  our  fore-fathers,  and 
the  popular  gods  of  the  Roman  empire ;  and  with   a 
kind  of  insidious  grimace,  [this  is  one  of  the  insidious 
ideas  of  Gibbon:]  and  sarcastic  risibility — pouring  the 
perennial  waters  of  their  feverish  contempt,   on  the 
wisdom,  knowledge,  learning  and  science  of  our  philo- 
sophers, poets  and  historians,  with  all  the  pious  and 
holy  priests,  of  our  national  and  provincial  gods.     And 
let  me  inform  this  court  and  jury,  that  these  subdolous 
prisoners  at  the  bar,   and  their  obreptitious  followers, 
have  not   limited  their  insults,  by  merely  publishing 
their  wild  enthusiastic  doctrine,  of  the  entire  nullifica- 
tion of  the  worship  of  mundane  and  tangible  gods — but 


286  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

have  carried  the  doctrine  of  their  new  malady,  to  such 
an  unsufferable  altitude  of  endurance,  which,  if  not 
checked  by  the  wholesome  discipline  of  our  laws,  the 
whole  sea  of  mundane  felicity  will  be  undulated  to  the 
very  centre.  For,  may  it  please  the  court,  these  prison- 
ers at  the  bar,  with  all  the  obreptitious  wretches,  who 
constitute  their  followers — who,  if  my  information  be 
correct  "  are  at  this  moment  as  numerous  as  the  locusts 
in  Upper  Egypt,  and  the  great  grass-hoppers  in  a  thorn 
hedge,  in  the  heat  of  a  summer's  day,  in  the  ancient 
land  of  Assyria."  I  say,  please  the  court,  these  glow- 
worms, these  fireflies,  with  their  little  vibrating  wings, 
in  the  low  grounds  of  the  common  people,  over  whom 
the  sombre  clouds  of  ignorance  and  fear,  have  spead 
themselves; — I  iterate  to  the  jury,  that  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  have  not  satisfied  themselves,  with  pro- 
claiming their  new  doctrine  of  nullification,  on  the 
learning  and  wisdom  of  our  gods,  but  have  been  assidu- 
ously spreading  the  doctrine  of  a  re-action,  to  be  brought 
on  all  the  noble,  great  and  wise  subjects  of  the  empire, 
in  consequence  of  their  malady,  or  their  new  doc- 
trine of  the  unqiialijied  immortality,  of  what  they  call 
the  human  soul ;  and  the  unreasonable  idea,  of  the  per- 
sonal and  moral  accountability  of  all  men,  to  what  the 
imposing  wretches  call,  i\iQ  Divine  author  o{  i\\\?>  super- 
stitious doctrine.  But,  that  I  be  not  further  tedious, 
in  expatiating  on  the  latent  designs  of  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,  I  shall  just  re- 
mind the  jury,  that  for  this  one  overt-act,  they  have 
voluntarily  placed  themselves  under  the  awful  penalty 
of  death. 

Reader — so  says  all  the  wise  gentlemen  of  the 
Deistical  school,  both  of  the  old  and  new  world. 

Crime  the  third  proved,  — Siga.mst  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

The  court  will  bear  in  mind,  that  the  second  specifi- 
cation which  I  find  in  the  consecutive  order  of  the  in- 
dictment, charges  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  with  a  second 
act  of  violence  and  high-handed  crime,  that  is  both  of 
a  seditious  and  felonious  character:  and  their  guilt, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  287 

which  lies  so  deeply  imbeded  in  this  crime,  consists  in 
their  going  by  night,  and  with  a  second  overt-act  of 
felonious  violence,  breaking  open  the  imperial  seal  of 
state.     I  experience  it   to  be  my  duty  this  day,  to 
again  impress  the  mind  of  the  court  and  jury,  with  the 
nature  and  character  of  this  crime,  as  is  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  grand-jury  predicated;  first,  from  their  act  of 
violence,  in  breaking  open  the  seal ;  and  secondly,  the 
grand-jury  were  fully  justified,  in  their  wisely  impugn- 
ing the  motives  of  the  prisoners,  from  the  latent  designs 
they  had  in  view;  which  when  carried  out,  consist  in 
the  wide  spread  of  anarchy,  and   the  diffusion  of  the 
elements  of  a  demoralizino^  malevolence,   through  the 
liege  subjects  of  our  sovereign  empire.     So  that   the 
deleterious  effects,  go  to  agitate  the  civil  sea  of  the 
mundane  security  of  the  citizens  of  Rome.    Therefore, 
the  court  and  jury  will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind,  that 
this  second  crime  comes  more  immediately  under  the 
civil  law^s  of  the  realm.     And  lean  inform  this  court 
and  jury,  that  all  our  learned  expositors  of  our  civil  code, 
do  fully  agree,  that  the  dark  shades  of  guilt,  which  so 
strongly  characterizes  this  second  crime  of  the  prison- 
ers, to  be,  if  it  were  not  rather  irrelevant  to  use  such 
an  expression,  and  may  perhaps,  in  the  cautious  opinion 
of  some,  fall  within  the  purlieu  of  a  volatile  phraseology; 
but,  I   shall   fearlessly  expose  myself   as   a  judge   of 
Roman  law,  to  the  censure  of  the  critick  and  say,  to 
the  court  and  jury,  that  the  turpitude  of  character, 
justly  attached  to  the  seditious   act — this  outrageous 
and  daring  crime  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  in  the  de- 
moniacal science,  (of  out-lawed  transgressors,)  that  it 
belongs  to  the  superlative  degree  of  felonious  acts.    So 
that  the  court  and  jury  will,  I  trust,  be  clearly  led  to 
see,  that  the  prisoners,  who  are  called  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  could  not  have  their  punishment  (which  v>  ill  be 
capital,)  commuted — not  even  by  Caesar  himself.    No, 
may  it  please  the  court,  without  causing  the  civil  and 
military  bands,  that  bind  his  government  together,  to 
part   asunder.      The  deleterious   consequence   would 
soon  be,  that  the  mighty  empire  of  Rome,  would  de- 


288  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

teriorate  into  a  state  of  chaotic  anarchy ;  which,  of 
course,  would  soon  sap  the  foundation  of  his  kingdom, 
and  dethrone  his  august  majesty. 

As  I  have  taken  up  the  time  of  the  court  already,  in 
my  legal  disquisition  of  the  first  crime  of  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar — I  will  not,  by  the  novelty  of  my  legal  ad- 
vice, and  charge  to  the  court  and  jury,  any  longer  seem 
to  impugn  either  their  wisdom  and  legal  knowledge, 
nor  yet  intrude  on  the  patience  of  the  jury,  in  giving 
them  a  lengthy  exposition  of  this  second  daring  act  of 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  in  their  breaking  open  the  im- 
perial seal,  in  order  to  steal  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

[The  author  informs  the  reader  that  the  twelve  jury- 
men never  took  their  keen  philosophical  vision  from  off 
the  judge,  during  the  whole  charge.] 

Crime  the  third  proved, — against  the  eleven  prisoners 
at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest. 

It  still  remains  my  official  duty,  to  onerously  remind 
the  court  and  jury,  that  the  third  and  last  specification, 
which  1  find  in  the  consecutive  order  of  the  indictment, 
for  the  court  and  jury  to  bear  in  mind,  is  another  most 
awful  stride,  in  the  demoniacal  science  of  old  Beelze- 
bub, or  else  of  some  heated  Salamander,  from  the  fiery 
worlds ;  so  that  the  guilt  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  if 
it  is  possible,  is  more  deeply  imbeded  in  the  nature  and 
sacrilegious  character  of  this  third  crime,  in  the  indict- 
ment, and  the  demoralizing  turpitude  of  the  same,  has 
been  raised  to  a  still  greater  altitude    in    the    black 
science  of  villanous   transgression,    which   the  grand 
jury,  in  my  opinion,  and  that  of  my  learned  associates 
on  the  bench,  who  all  fully  accord  in  the  views  I  am 
about  to  give  the  court   and  jury;  to  wit — that  the 
grand  jury  did  legally  and  justly  predicate  the  guilt 
of  this  third  crime,  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  when 
this  lawless  banditti  of  marauding,   sacrilegious   and 
villanous  robberies,  went  under  the  nebulous  canopy 
of  the  night,  and  made  a  subdolous  surreption,  on  the 
sacred  cemetery  and  silent  repose  of  the  dead  ;  and  then 
surreptitiously  conveyed  off  the  bonded  merchandize, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  289 

out  of  the  old  custom-house  of  death:  that  is,  please 
the  court,  by  dropping  my  allegory  or  metaphor, — I 
with  my  coadjutors,  the  learned  judges,  who  are  asso- 
ciated with  me  on  this  trial,  are  led  to  justify  the  bill, 
which  the  grand  jury  have  found  against  the  eleven 
prisoners  at  the  bar:  that  is,  these  wicked  and  artful, 
these  obreptitious  and  subdolous  wretches,  came  by 
night,  and  in  a  most  felonious  manner,  entered  the 
sepulchre,  and  conveyed  off  the  crucified  body  of  that 
malefactor,  which  Pilate  put  to  death  on  a  Roman 
cross.  The  gods,  and  their  guilty  consciences,  with 
those  beings  who  have  not  their  dwellings  in  the  gross 
and  dense  elements  of  flesh  and  blood,  only  know 
where.  And  if  it  be  not  indecorous  in  a  judge,  to 
indulge  the  indignation  of  his  legal  sensibilities,  against 
the  crimes  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  I  shall  fearlessly 
give  to  the  court  and  jury,  our  opinion  and  legal  judg- 
ment of  the  prisoners'  guilt,  in  their  robbing  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ; — that  it  has,  in 
the  demoniacal  science  of  crime,  raised  their  guilt,  far 
above  the  altitude  of  the  superlative  degree  of  the 
blackest  transgressions  of  mankind,  which  I  have  placed 
before  the  court  this  da}^  when  I  took  but  a  mere  com- 
pendious view  of  the  second  allegation  in  the  bills  of 
indictment,  of  the  crimes  charged  against  the  prison- 
ers at  the  bar  of  this  court.  The  chief  judge  having 
given  the  court  and  jury  a  mere  compendious  view,  and 
brief  disquisition  of  the  nature  and  character  of  the 
prisoners'  crimes  from  the  notes  he  had  taken  down. 
When  the  judge  rose,  and  commanded  the  jury  alsa 
to  rise,  and  delivered  to  them  this  solemn  charge. 

[By  the  writer. — Gentlemen  of  the  Deistical  and 
Scofl[ing  School,  the  Judge,  in  his  charge,  gives  a  fair 
portrait  of  your  hearts  against  Christ.] 

Therefore,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  it  devolves  on  me 
as  an  important  branch  of  my  oflTicial  duty,  as  the  chief 
organ  of  the  law  of  my  sovereign's  realm,  to  onerously 
and  imperatively,  as  I  stand  this  day  within  the  range 
of  the  martial,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws  of  my 
country,  to  charge  the  jury,  with  a  deep  sense  of  your 

2b 


29Q  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

high  and  solemn  responsibility  to  your  own  consciences, 
to  the  laws  of  your  country,  and  your  allegiance  to 
your  sovereign,  and  with  all  that  is  dear  and  valuable 
to  the  honour  and  high  character  of  Roman  citizens — 
and  as  judges  we  beseech  you,  in  the  sacred  fear  of  all 
our  national  gods,  that  you,  as  enlightened  and  impar- 
tial jurors,  into  whose  hands  this  mysterious  and 
momentous  cause  is  now  about  to  be  committed,  for 
your  virtuous  and  legal  decision :  and  our  devout 
prayers  as  judges,  shall  ascend  with  the  incense,  from 
off  the  holocaust  on  our  civick  altars,  to  our  gods  of 
truth  and  justice,  that  your  minds  may  be  so  over- 
ruled by  the  afflatus  from  our  forensick  divinities,  that 
you  may  present,  at  the  bar  of  this  impartial  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  a  true  and  righteous  verdict;  in  order 
that  you  may  prove  to  this  court  and  the  whole  world, 
that  you  have  acted  your  part  in  this  subdolous  and 
mysterious  trial,  like  men  of  firmness;  under  the  full 
influence  of  a  state  of  sanity,  with  virtue,  wisdom  and 
knowledge.  The  jury  will  indulge  me,  as  they  are 
about  to  retire,  to  onerously  beseech  them,  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  most  plenary  testimony,  and  incontesti- 
ble  proof,  has  been  given  in  by  the  Roman  soldiers, 
against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  of  their  guilt  in  steal- 
ing the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
And  I  shall  just  observe,  that  I  do  not  at  present  dis- 
tinctly recollect,  that  throughout  my  long  ofhcial  prac- 
tice in  our  courts  of  civil  law,  to  have  either  heard  or 
witnessed,  whtle  any  one  trial  was  pending  before  me, 
of  so  clear  and  distinct,  and  at  the  same  time,  so  unani- 
mous a  testimony,  as  that  given  by  the  guards  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar ;  and  that  too,  without  going 
one  step  within  the  purlieu  of  tergiversation.  And  I 
would  further  remind  the  jury,  that  I  did  not  discover 
one  discordant  word,  nor  even  the  slightest  discrepancy 
in  the  guards'  views  of  the  prisoners'  guilt :  so  that 
every  thing  they  stated,  seemed  to  be  delivered  with 
all  the  accuracy  of  the  pen  of  a  scribe,  or  that  of  a 
facsimile  :  the  which  singular  occurrence,  has  led  my 
miad,  with  those  also  of  my  associate  judges  on  this 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  291 

bench,  to  believe,  that  it  stamps  the  guards'  evidence, 
with  all  the  high  shades  of  irrefragible  truth;  from 
v^^hich  we  give  our  legal  opinion,  and  charge  to  the 
jury.  So  that,  gentlemen,  under  your  affirmations  as 
jurors  in  this  m5^sterious  case,  it  will  be  your  most 
conscientious  and  imperious  duty,  to  find  three  special 
and  separate  verdicts,  for  capital  punishment,  against 
each  of  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar. 

The  jury  will  now  take  charge  of  the  case,  and  re- 
turn their  verdict  to  this  court  to  morrow,  if  possible. 
When  the  prisoners,  the  disciples  of  Christ,  were  all 
remanded  back  to  the  state's  prison  again,  and  the 
court  adjourned  to  meet  the  ensuing  day. 


292 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  twentieth  day  of  the  trial,  of  the  robbery  of  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Ch?'ist,  as  it  tvas  reported 
to  the  world  by  the  Roman  guards,  and  Caidphas  the  then 
high  priest  of  the  Jews — and  by  the  Jewish  nation  at 
large  to  this  day,  1832;  and  most  cordially  received  as 
true,  by  all  the  self-righteous  Deistical  gentlemen  and 
ladies  of  modern  times,  throughout  the  christian  ivorld  ; 
as  iDell  as  in  the  days  when  Pontius  Pilate  was  the  Roman 
governor  of  Judea  ;  having  held  the  office  of  procurator 
or  governor  of  the  Jews,  for  about  nine  years,  at  the  time 
of  the  reported  robbery  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucifed 
body  of  Christ, 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus,  or 
more  properly,  the  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  met 


Figure  No.  1.  Caiaphas  tlie  high  prkst  of  the  Jews,  full  of  holy  glee,  at 
the  verdict  of  the  jury  against  the  disciples. 

No.  2.  The  Philosopher,  at  the  time  of  the  passion  of  Christ,  pursuing  the 
science  of  Astronomy,  entirely  regardless  of  immortality. 

Nos.  3.  and  4.  The  Philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  and  Carnal  Reason, 
the  former  viewing  the  vast  empire  of  nature — the  latter  pointing  the  finger 
of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ. 

No.  5.  The  five  judges  who  sat  on  this  trial. 

No.  6.  The  foreman  of  the  jury.  Lord  Herbert,  presenting  their  verdict  to 
the  judges  of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  293 

pursuant  to  adjournment,  on  the  morning  of  the 
twentieth  day  of  this  trial.  The  doors  of  the  court 
house  being  open  at  rather  an  early  hour  for  court 
business  ;  but  the  issue  of  the  cause  had,  by  this  time, 
elicited  almost  universal  attention,  from  Deists,  Jews, 

Note. — [Reader,  this  robbery  took  place,  according  to 
the  foregoing  reporters,  in  the  well  known  days  of  Tiberius 
Caesar ;  the  second  fully  acknowledged  emperor,  of  the 
mighty  empire  of  Rome ;  and  of  his  reign,  about  nineteen 
years — taking  in  about  three  years,  that  Tiberius  reigned 
conjointly  with  Augustus  ;  which  is  the  time  Luke  gave  of 
his  reign  :  although  Augustus  had  been  dead  but  12  years 
and  nine  days  :  and  Luke  in  his  gospel,  calls  it  the  fifteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Caesar  ;  that  is,  Luke  takes 
into  his  account,  not  the  sole  reign,  but  the  conjoint  reign  of 
2  years  and  356  days  ;  in  which  the  said  Tiberius,  by  the  will 
and  pleasure  of  Augustus,  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
government  of  the  empire  ;  so  that  12  years  and  9  days,  in 
which  Tiberius  reigned  after  the  death  of  Augustus,  with  as 
before  stated,  the  2  years  and  356  days,  in  which  the  two 
emperors  reigned  conjointly  together,  make  the  fifteen  years, 
which  Luke  gives  to  the  reign  of  Tiberius ;  which  may  be 
found  in  his  gospel,  chapter  3,  verse  1.  Deistical  reafler,  if 
God  in  his  mercy  to  your  doubting  mind  gives  you  a  simple 
and  honest  heart,  to  deal  truly  and  fairly  with  the  weighty 
claims  and  onerous  interests  of  j'our  poor  never  dying  soul, 
see  with  what  a  little  mental  labour,  you  might  remove  every 
little  historical  and  critical  difficulty,  that  to  you,  from  a 
mere  superficial  glance  at  the  gospel,  appears  as  a  stumbling 
block,  in  the  way  of  your  believing  its  divine  authenticity.] 


Ko.  7.  The  great  gallery  of  the  court,  full  of  Jewish  and  Deistical  gentle- 
men and  ladies,  wliose  blooming  countenances  appear  overflowing  with 
risibility,  in  consequence  of  the  verdict  of  tfie  jury  bringing  in  the  disciples 
guilty  of  robbing  the  sepulchre ;  and  by  the  robbery,  the  cause  of  Christianity 
and  the  Immortality  of  mankind,  are  lost  forever. 

No.  8.  The  eleven  disciples  in  the  criminal's  box,  chained  together  ; 
having  lost  all  hope  of  pardon,  from  the  court,  and  in  their  forlorn  case. 

No.  9.  A  young  Roman  lawyer,  at  this  critical  crisis  and  fortuitous  june- 
^re  of  time,  (when  hope  had  spread  its  wings,  and  just  about  forsaking  tte 
eleven  disciples  forever,)  came  rushing  from  the  great  gallery,  and  falling 
on  his  kness,  at  the  bar  of  the  court,  most  devoutly  jirays  and  beseeches  the 
judges,  to  be  permitted  to  cross-examine  the  royal  guards. 

2b* 


394  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

and  Free-thinkers,  of  every  class ;  and  Philosophers, 
and  self-righteous  reasoners  of  every  grade.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  that  the  first  carriage  that  drove  up  to 
the  portico,  in  front  of  the  court  house,  was  the  plain 
vehicle,  that  conveyed  the  ladies  Reason,  and  her 
empyrean  born  sister  Philosophy,  with  their  two  private 
secretaries,  that  constituted  their  small  legation  ;  that 
is,  the  marchioness  Harchiess  of  heart,  and  a  lady  of 
honour,  who  had  for  her  family  escutcheon,  the  hiero- 
glyphicks  of  Unbelief.  When  the  ladies  had  alighted, 
they  were,  by  the  chief  almoners  of  the  court,  with  a 
fine  display  of  Roman  etiquette,  safely  inducted  into 
the  small  gallery,  granted  for  their  ladyships'  entire 
accommodation.  And  immediately  after,  drove  up  a 
very  large  squadron  of  the  most  superb  and  elegant 
carriages,  that  the  sparkling  opticks  of  our  modern- 
wise  and  philosophical  gentlemen  of  the  marvellous  age 
of  reason,  had  ever  to  this  day,  converged  their  manly 
vision  upon. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  scintillating  vision  of 
these  young  aspirents  after  philosophical  fame  and 
wisdom,  (who  were  in  the  hot  pursuit  of  the  soul-re- 
freshing doctrines  of  mateinalism  and  eternal  sleep,) 
caught  the  glowing  countenances  of  this  almost  angelic 
troop  of  fair  ones,  who  surcharged  those  carriages,  that 
they  rushed  out  of  the  court  house,  and  most  grace- 
fully assisted  the  young  Jewish  and  Deistical  ladies,  to 
alight  from  their  fine  vehicles  ;  and  w^ith  Roman  sauvity 
in  their  colloquial  address  and  graceful  manners,  in- 
vited them  to  take  seats  in  the  great  gallery,  on  the 
scarlet  sofas  prepared  for  them,  on  this  singular  occa- 
sion. And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  great 
gallery  was  filled  to  overflowing,  with  the  patrician 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  of  the  Jewish  and  philosophical 
casts,  who  were  all  of  a  very  philanthropic  spirit,  like 
Herod  and  Pilate—- to  wit;  loving  friends  to  each  other, 
when  Christ  and  his  rising  from  the  dead,  is  set  up  as 
a  target  on  some  one  of  the  mountains  of  philosophical 
vanity ;  or  on  one  of  the  high  promontories  of  Jewish 
unbelief  to  shoot  the  arrows  of  their  pugnacity  and 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  295 

Deistical  risibility  at.  After  this,  there  came  in  and 
filled  the  isles  and  areas  of  the  court  house  to  overflow- 
ing, the  poor  plebeian  wretches,  who  constitute  the 
multifarious  herd  of  the  Roman  empire.  Now,  it  is 
very  singular  to  observe,  that  these  low  bred  people, 
were  more  or  less  lovers  of  God  and  immortality,  and 
humble  admirers  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  great 
friends  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  rising  from  the  dead, 
as  has  been  said  before. 

And  after  the  court  had  been  pretty  well  crowded 
with  those  poor  dolorous  creatures,  who  the  author 
of  the  gospel  calls  by  the  name  of  the  poor  in  spirit — 
and  when  the  five  judges,  and  all  the  other  law  gentle- 
men, who  legally  constitute  the  law  elements  of  this 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  had  arrived  and  taken 
their  usual  locations  in  court,  that  the  grand  marshal 
of  the  empire,  with  the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  and  the 
officers  of  the  state's  prison,  brought  in  the  eleven 
prisoners,  chained  together,  and  placed  them  in  the 
criminal's  box,  before  the  bar,  with  a  view  to  hear  the 
verdict  of  the  jury,  and  to  receive  from  the  judges  the 
condign  sentence  of  the  law,  to  be  pronounced  by  the 
chief  judge,  on  their  guilty  heads. 

The  court  being  called  to  order  by  the  cryer,  silence 
soon  pervaded  the  whole  court ;  and  it  sat  for  some 
time  in  the  most  solemn  and  profound  suspense,  wait- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  jury,  from  whose  verdict,  on  this 
all  important  case,  was,  to  all  legal  appearance,  sus- 
pended the  immortality  of  the  whole  human  race.  And 
it  came  to  pass,  that  during  this  solemn  suspension  of 
the  vibrating  pendulums,  and  other  apparatus  which 
constitutes  a-  full  set  of  court  machinery — that  is,  by 
dropping  our  figure,'  the  lawyers  and  judges  tongues': 
and  as  the  deep  and  solemn  interest,  which  all  parties 
in  court  seemed  (with  the  solitary  exception  of  the 
ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy,)  anxiously  to  experience, 
in  their  waiting  with  solemn  patience,  the  verdict  of 
the  jury. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  during  this  solemn  inter- 
regnum of  court  business,  that  the  stenographer  of  this 


296  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

trial,  for  a  moment,  laid  down  his  pen,  as  his  fingers 
experienced  no  small  degree  of  physical  weariness,  from 
taking  his  reports  of  the  trial,  in  consequence  of  some 
of  the  lawyers  being  rather  rapid  in  their  ratiocination; 
which  at  times  made  it  very  difficult  (for  a  poor  sailor, 
whose  hands  and  fingers  were  somewhat  unpliable,  in 
consequence  of  handling  the  cable  and  other  tarry 
ropes,  in  his  juvenile  days :)  for  a  dull  scribe  to  keep 
up  with  their  forensick  pegasus  or  flying  scintillations. 
But,  be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  during  this  relaxation 
of  the  stenographer's  duty,  that  he  cast  the  eye  of  his 
excursive  curiosity,  first  on  the  Jewish  and  then  on 
the  Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  great  gallery 
of  this  court,  when  he  saw  a  benign  placidness  on  all 
their  countenances,  with  now  and  then  a  glowing  flush 
of  prenominating  joy,  as  they  sat  on  their  soft  sofas, 
[the  cushions  thereof  being  well  stuffed  with  fine  down, 
taken  from  the  goslings,  that  swim  on  the  sombre 
waters  of  materialism,]  of  carnal  and  sensual  ease;  and 
mundane  felicity — carrying  on  a  kind  of  interlocutory 
disquisition,  within  the  circle  of  their  own  minds: 
fondly  arguing  to  themselves,  that  the  wise  and  prudent 
verdict  of  the  jury,  would  most  certainly  be  against 
the  disciples  of  Christ ;  and  what  of  course,  would  fol- 
low in  the  auspicious  wake,  would  be  judgment  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar :  to  wit,  the  felicitous  detec- 
tion of  the  pious  fraud  of  the  gospel,  by  proving  that 
Christ's  crucified  body  was  stolen  out  of  the  sepulchre, 
by  the  sacrilegious  knaves  at  the  bar. 

But  leaving  this  happy  galaxy,  in  the  gallery  of  the 
heavens  of  the  age  of  Reason,  the  stenographer  turning 
his  vision  to  the  small  gallery,  on  the  left  of  the  judges, 
(see  3  and  4  on  the  plate,)  to  discover  if  possible,  how 
the  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy,  spent  their  valuable 
time,  during  this  short  suspension  of  court  business ; 
when  he  discovered,  that  the  lady  Carnal  Reason, 
stood  fanning  herself,  as  the  weather  was  a  little  oppres- 
sive, and  at  the  same  time  engaged  in  some  interlocu- 
tory conversation  wath  her  private  secretary,  lady 
marchioness,  otherwise  Jewish  hardness  of  heart :  and 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  29T 

in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  every  now  and  then, 
pointing  her  finger  of  scorn  at  the  cross  of  Christ; 
while  lady  Philosophy,  spent  her  time  in  viewing  the 
ample  field  of  nature,  wdth  her  long  telescope  at  her 
rolling  and  scintillating  eye — frequently  holding  some 
desultorious  disquisition  with  a  lady  of  honour,  who 
acted  as  lady  Philosophy's  private  secretary,  on  the 
wild  absurdity  of  a  crucified  malefactor,  being  by 
the  superstitious  and  religious  part  of  society,  set  upon 
a  promontory  of  enthusiastic  vanity,  as  a  being,  to 
whom  divine  honours  and  worship  should  be  demand- 
ed, from  the  high-wrought  philosophy  of  the  human 
mind,  in  this  marvellous  age  of  the  progress  of  rational 
knowledge,  and  wonderful  philosophical  discoveries. 

The  poor  sailor,  very  humbly  and  obsequiously  refers 
the  reader,  to  the  assiduous  labour  of  philanthropic 
zeal,  in  the  justification  of  lady  Philosophy's  views,  to 
her  well  beloved  cousins,  Hume,  Gibbon,  and  many 
others  of  smaller  magnitude,  in  the  heavens  of  the  age 
of  Reason;  who  so  very  ingeniously  remark,  that  men 
of  wisdom,  learning  and  philosophy,  in  the  Roman 
empire,  who  in  their  private  studies,  spent  much  of 
their  time  in  the  abstract  science  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
and  where  the  assiduous  observers  of  all  the  phenomena, 
that  took  place  in  the  arcanum  of  nature,  in  their  days. 
And  as  they  lived  at  the  very  time,  that  Matthew  re- 
ports the  appearance  of  a  new  star  in  the  visible  and 
natural  heavens  ;  that  it  was  marvellously  strange  in- 
deed, that  those  sons  of  science  and  wisdom,  did  not 
see  this  new  phosphorus,  this  supernatural  morning 
star,  that  passed  over  a  great  part  of  the  Roman  empire, 
to  pay  its  obsequious  etiquette  to  the  new^-born  son  of 
a  lonely  hand-maid,  by  directing  a  company  of  philo- 
sophers to  go  a  long  journey,  and  pronounce  to  the 
smiling  babe,  the  title  of  "  the  King  of  the  Jews." 
Neither,  say  these  gentlemen  of  modern  wisdom,  did  the 
wise  and  learned  observers  of  nature,  who  about 
thirty-four  years  after  the  emersion  of  this  star,  w  hich 
became  their  humble  and  obsequious  guide,  to  the 
plebeian  and  humble  cottage,  where  the  young  child 


298  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

was.  Now,  says  the  wise  and  learned  Gibbon,  and  all 
his  assiduous  coadjutors,  who  deny,  that  supernatural 
wisdom  and  power  gave  to  the  world  any  remarkable 
evidence,  by  the  appearance  of  any  new  and  singular 
phenomena  in  the  visible  heavens  ; — when  Gibbon,  as 
a  Goliah  or  mighty  champion,  at  the  head  of  his  free- 
thinking  brethren,  asks.  What  was  the  inauspicious 
cause,  that  the  Astronomers,  the  Philosophers,  and  all 
other  wise  men,  in  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and  about  the  ninth  year 
of  the  procuratorship  of  Pilate,  saw  nothing  of  the  som- 
breness  of  the  whole  heavens,  from  the  sixth  unto  the 
ninth  hour  of  the  day,  or  from  twelve  to  three  o'clock, 
as  we  now  reckon  time  ?  When  this  wise  gentlemen, 
in  the  sauvity  of  his  style,  of  which  he  had  made  him- 
self, [by  twenty  years  seclusion  from  the  world,  in 
Switzerland,  and  behind  the  altars  of  the  outward 
church,]  master  of,  with  the  noble  and  manly  object 
he  had  in  view,  as  his  bright  phosphorus,  or  his  polar 
star  always  before  him  ;  so  that,  by  the  more  than  com- 
mon sophistical  ingenuity  of  his  brethren,  in  the  sequence 
and  classical  selection  of  his  words,  by  giving  to  many 
of  his  ingenions  periods  every  possible  polish,  when  he 
clothes  himself  in  the  sombre  robe  of  a  commiserating 
and  subdolous  crocodile,  with  its  wide  extending  jaws, 
just  ready  to  ingulph  its  unconscious  prej^,  in  the  vor- 
tex of  the  doctrine  of  materialism,  and  eternal  sleep — 
when  he  subdoiously  exclaims.  What  a  pity !  what  a 
most  irreparable  misfortune,  that  the  wise  and  the 
great  men  of  the  Roman  empire,  had  not  been  favour- 
ed with  the  sight  of  the  star  over  the  cottage  of  the 
babe  of  Bethlehem!  And  the  shame-faced  and  blushing 
Sun,  when  the  monarch  of  the  sky  appeared  in  his 
black  robe,  at  mid-day,  mourning  over  the  passion  of 
Christ,  as  he  hung  on  a  Roman  cross  !  But,  says  the 
wise  and  commiserating  philosophical  scribe,  these 
wise  and  great  men  saw  neither  the  star  at  the  birth 
of  Christ,  nor  the  darkened  Sun  at  his  crucifixion ! 
Therefore,  the  corollary,  [or  in  his  own  opinion,  wise 
philosophical  inference,]  that  he  draws,  is  this :  That 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  299 

the  whole  gospel  is  a  pious  fraud,  got  up  to  enslave 
the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  by  a  few  subdolous 
fishermen  of  the  sea  of  Galilee. 

Patient  reader,  indulge  the  poor  sailor  to  present  Mr. 
Gibbon,  and  all  his  wise  and  philosophical  associates,  with  a 
few  of  his  poor  marine  ideas,  on  the  emersion  of  the  star,  at 
the  reported  birth  of  Christ ;  and  the  darkness  of  the  Sun  at 
his  passion  or  crucifixion.  In  the  first  place,  the  sailor  does 
not  believe,  that  Matthew,  in  giving  the  account  of  that  lumi- 
nous appearance,  which  was  the  guide  of  the  wise  men,  to  be 
understood  as  speaking  of  one  of  the  stars  belonging  to  our  solar 
system  ;  but,  as  he  wished  to  be  understood,  that  the  birth 
of  Christ,  Avas  by  the  will  and  power  of  God,  of  a  miraculous 
nature  ;  so,  likewise,  were  all  the  circumstances  and  things, 
whether  in  the  spiritual  or  natural  world,  that  administered 
to  him  at  the  auspicious  hour  of  his  birth,  of  the  same  miracu- 
lous character.  Then,  reader,  how  very  easy  it  must  have 
been,  for  the  same  supernatural  or  divine  power,  that  guided 
and  governed  the  whole,  to  have  created  a  small  luminous 
body  in  the  lower  regions  of  our  atmosphere,  in  appearance 
to  the  wise  men  of  the  east,  similar  to  a  star  in  the  firma- 
ment of  heaven ;  so  that  none  but  the  wise  men  from  the 
east,  should  be  permitted  to  see  the  same  :  No  wonder,  then., 
Mr.  Gibbon's  philosophers  of  the  Roman  empire,  should  miss 
the  sight.  So  much  of  a  poor  sailor's  spun-yarn,  in  answer 
to  Gibbon  and  his  wise  friends  of  old,  not  seeing  Matthew's 
star  at  the  birth  of  Christ.  And  with  regard  to  the  general 
silence  of  the  Roman  historians,  of  the  singular  phenomena, 
of  the  Sun  being  veiled  in  darkness,  from  the  sixth  until  the 
ninth  hour  of  the  day — there  remains  not  the  least  doubt,  in 
the  mind  of  the  poor  sailor,  that  the  national  dislike,  and 
even  abhorrence  of  the  Romans,  against  the  doctrine  and  re- 
ligion of  the  Jews,  would  lead  their  historians  to  be  exces- 
sively cautious,  not  to  notice  any  passing  phenomena  in  the 
natural  world,  that  was  in  the  least  degree  calculated  to  in- 
crease the  claims  of  the  Jewish  theism,  over  the  outwardly 
imposing  mythology  of  the  Roman  empire.  This,  no  doubt, 
was  one  powerful  motive,  for  the  more  than  maiden  modesty, 
and  prudential  silence  of  Mr.  Gibbon's  old  friends,  in  not 
taking  notice  of  the  nebulous  Sun,  at  the  crucifixion  of  Christ. 
But,  as  we  all  hands  on  board  the  gospel  ship,  must  give  in 


300  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

to  this  idea,  that  the  philosophers  and  historians  of  the  Roman 
empire,  were  not  always  closeted  in  their  observatories ;  so 
that  they  could  not  be  insensible  of  the  serious  consequences, 
produced  over  the  Roman  empire,  that  arose  out  of  the  report 
of  the  obscuration  of  the  Sun,  at  the  passion  of  Christ; 
which  was  giving  the  Jews  a  still  higher  claim  to  their  theism, 
over  that  of  the  mythology  of  the  Romans  ;  and  as  they  were 
but  little  acquainted  with  the  nice  distinctions,  between  the 
followers  of  Christ  and  the  disciples  of  Moses,  at  that  early 
era  of  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  looked  on  the  Jews,  with 
their  only  one  solitary  God,  as  so  repulsive  to  what  they 
viewed  the  philanthropic  elements  of  Roman  mythology, 
who  kindly,  as  they  conceived,  indulged  all  the  nations  they 
had  conquered,  to  worship  the  gods  which  their  fathers  had 
set  up ;  therefore,  these,  and  many  other  prudential  views, 
that  would  naturally  suggest  themselves  to  their  minds,  led 
them  both  wisely  and  cautiously  to  beware,  lest  they  should 
give  the  slightest  countenance  to  the  high  claims  of  the  Jew- 
ish theism,  over  their  national  mythology.  They  were  also, 
through  principles  of  national  policy,  and  the  native  pride  of 
Roman  citizens,  led  in  general,  not  to  give  publicity  to  this 
strange  phenomena  of  the  supernatural  darkness,  which  took 
place  on  the  fourteenth-day  of  the  Jewish  ecclesiastical 
month,  which  had  been,  for  more  than  fourteen  hundred 
years,  governed  by  the  full  of  the  moon :  and  as  no  other 
body  in  the  solar  system  can  obstruct  the  light  of  the  sun, 
the  inference  is,  that  it  was  supernatural  ;  and  no  doubt, 
Mr.  Gibbon's  friends  were  duly  convinced  of  the  same  ;  but 
Roman,  pride,  as  we  have  just  said,  and  national  policy,  led 
them,  when  writing  the  history  of  that  period,  to  give  it  the 
historical  go-by.  So  fare-thee-well,  Mr.  Gibbon,  and  all  thy 
commiserating  crocodiles  of  unbelief.  These  are  the  re- 
flections of  a  poor  sailor,  while  the  jury  were  gone  out  of 
court,  with  the  case  of  the  disciples  robbing  the  sepulchre. 

[The  jury  return  into  court  with  a  verdict  o^ guilty, 
on  the  three  charges  contained  in  the  indictment, 
against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  called  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  for  stealing  his  crucified  body  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  about  the  space  of  three 
hours,  the  jury,  headed  by  Lord  Herbert,  its  foreman. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  301 

return  into  court,  and  presented  its  verdict  to  the 
judges  ; — which  was,  that  the  jury  had  justified  all  the 
bills  charged  in  the  indictment  against  the  prisoners, 
for  the  high  crime  of  robbing  the  sepulchre,  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ ;  and  that  too  for  capital  pun- 
ishment, against  them  for  each  crime.  As  soon  as  the 
chief  judge  received  the  verdict  from  the  foreman  of 
the  jury,  he  arose,  and  with  his  forensick  intonation, 
announced  the  solemn  doom,  that  shortly  awaited  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  by  reading  the  verdict  of  the  jury, 
in  open  court ;  and  then  informed  the  court,  that  he 
should  be  prepared  on  the  ensuing  day,  to  pronounce 
the  condign  sentence  of  the  law,  on  the  eleven  disciples, 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  judge  was  about 
to  adjourn  the  court,  his  attention  was  suddenly  arrest- 
ed, by  the  rushing  of  a  young  man  from  among  the  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  in  the  great  gallery  of  the  court,  and  forc- 
ing his  way  through  the  plebeian  throng,  that  filled  the 
large  isle — and  falling  on  his  knees  at  the  civick  altars 
of  mercy,  truth  and  justice,  before  the  judges  and  the 
whole  court.  This  caused  the  judge  to  pause,  and  at 
the  same  time  spread  a  sombre  canopy  over  the  whole 
court.  But  whether  this  small  concatenation,  in  this 
solemn  trial,  was  over-ruled  by  the  fates,  or  some  other 
cause,  (to  both  free-thinkers,  carnal  reasoners,  self- 
righteous  characters,  and  philosophers,  as  well  as  Jews 
and  Deists,)  it  was  equally  unknown,  and  was  at  that 
juncture  of  the  trial,  a  profound  mystery. 

[The  stenographer,  by  the  reader's  indulgence,  will 
give  a  short  statistical  view  of  this  young  forensick 
gentleman.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  at  this  critical  moment  and 
alarming  crisis,  of  the  portentous  issue  of  this  trial, 
when  the  immortal  interests  of  all  mankind  were  at 
stake,  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
that  a  young  Roman  civilian,  who  had  but  very  re- 
cently finished  his  studies,  and  just  obtained  his  diploma 
as  an  authorized  practitioner  in  the  courts  of  Roman 

2c 


302  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

jurisprudence,  came  as  it  Vere,  almost  by  what  we  poor 
sailors  in  our  vernacular  and  marine  language,  would 
call  chance — but  who,  it  seems,  had  heard  like  the 
queen  of  the  south,  in  the  case  of  the  wise  Solomon, 
of  the  high  fame  and  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
this  court  of  chancery  ;  and  being  at  the  same  time, 
prompted  by  a  laudible  ambition,  to  obtain  some  prac- 
tical insight  into  his  new  profession,  so  as  not  to  de- 
pend altogether  upon  his  law-books,  and  the  theoretical 
knowledge,  which  he  had  so  lately  received  at  the 
law  schools:  and  not  only  so,  for  this  young  lawyer  ex- 
perienced in  his  mind,  some  additional  excitement  to 
gratify  his  private  curiosity,  from  the  various  reports 
in  circulation  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  with  re- 
gard to  this  singular  and  mysterious  cause,  that  was  to 
be  tried ;  and  from  a  serious  coindication  that  presen- 
ted itself  to  his  view,  of  the  different  parties  in  the  suit, 
he  was  inclined  to  attend  the  grand  tribunal  of  Areo- 
pagus,'so  that  in  a  few  days,  he  made  up  his  mind  to 
visit  this  high  court  of  chancery  in  disguise  :  in  order, 
that  with  an  unbiased  mind  and  a  calm  spirit,  he  might 
listen  to,  and  observe  all  the  features  and  bearings  of 
this  singular  trial,  of  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the  cru- 
cified body  of  Christ.  When  this  young  barrister  pre- 
excogitated,  that  this  singular  catastrophe  being  brought 
into  a  court  of  law  and  inquest,  was  worthy  his  serious 
attention.  He  was  also  led,  by  a  regular  concatenation 
of  reflection,  to  further  forecast  in  the  excursive  view 
he  took  over  the  vast  sea  of  future  consequences,  that 
were  associated  with  this  trial :  to  wit — that  as  there 
were  so  many  discordant  interests  at  issue,  and  also  so 
many  high  and  low  characters,  who  were  more  or  less 
implicated  in  this  daring  surreptition,  on  the  silent 
cemetery  of  the  dead,  he  in  a  soliloquy  thus  reflected  : 
First,  a  high  national  clergyman  of  the  Jews,  by  the 
name  of  Caiaphas  ;  secondly,  a  Roman  governor,  of 
considerable  notoriety  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Caesar; 
thirdly,  a  centurion  of  the  Roman  army ;  and  fourthly, 
four  quaternions  of  the  royal  guards  of  the  royal  army. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  303 

The  foregoing  persons  and  characters  were  both  de- 
fendants and  witnesses  in  this  suit. 

When  this  young  lawyer  viewed  the  defendants  on 
the  other  side — that  they  were  persons  of  no  standing 
in  society ;  without  honour,  office,  money  or  interest,  in 
the  empire  ;  and  without  either  science  or  philosophy  : 
to  wit — the  crucified  body  of  a  supposed  malefactor, 
and  ten  poor  fishermen,  and  one  tax  gatherer,  of  the 
lake  or  small  sea  of  Galilee.  When  this  young  civilian 
said  in  a  soliloquy,  the  disparity  of  character,  wisdom, 
power  and  influence,  in  this  suit  is  so  great,  that  I  can- 
not refrain  from  going  to  see  and  hear ;  so  that  he  w-as, 
from  an  almost  involuntary  impulse,  led  to  say:  Surely, 
from  such  multiform  appearances,  in  such  a  group  of 
multifarious  characters,  which  constitute  the  pugna- 
cious elements  of  this  singular  trials  it  certainly  must 
draw  forth  some  very  interesting  acumen,  from  these 
old  and  learned  barristers  of  Roman  law,  who  shall 
engage  in  this  cause  ;  for  there  is  certainly  a  wide  field, 
for  all  the  able  advocates,  on  both  the  plaintiffs'  and 
the  defendants'  sides  of  this  suit,  to  most  powerfully 
display  the  ingenuity  and  strength  of  their  arguments; 
which  of  course,  would  certainly  become  very  interest- 
ing for  a  young  attorney  to  hear.  And  as  it  is  rather 
of  a  singular  complexion,  and  one  on  which  the  truth 
or  fallacy  of  a  new  theology,  called  by  some  the  gospel, 
is  said  to  be  the  cardinal  point  at  issue. 

These  things,  with  his  personal  improvement  in  his 
new  profession,  resting  on  his  mind,  were  the  latent 
cause  of  bringing  this  young  Roman  civilian  to  this  high 
court  of  chancery.  So  when  he  came  to  court,  he 
went  into  the  large  gallery,  among  the  young  Jewish 
and  Deistical  ladies  and  gentlemen ;  and  at  times,  was 
very  attentive  to  the  young  grandees,  in  the  great  gal- 
lery, in  helping  them  to  the  best  seats.  He  generally 
located  himself  in  that  part  of  the  gallery,  which  fronted 
the  judges,  and  was  often  seen  with  a  pencil  taking 
notes,  and  making  memorandums  of  the  things  he 
heard,  during  this  mysterious  trial. 

This  singular  conduct,  of  this  young  stranger,  often 


304  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

caused  the  judges  to  give  him  many  a  peering  look, 
during  the  antecedent  days  of  this  trial.  Nevertheless, 
this  young  lawyer  judged  it  to  be  most  prudent  on  his 
part,  to  keep  himself  from  public  notice.  And  as  he 
came  to  this  high  court  of  lav^  and  inquest  incog,  so  he 
kept  himself  in  disguise  to  this  moment :  by  which  pru- 
dent means,  he  remained  a  calm  and  private  spectator, 
of  all  the  legal  business  and  acts  of  this  court,  so  far  as 
it  had  progressed.  But  to  return  : — this  young  lawyer 
being  on  his  knees,  threw  the  judges  and  the  whole 
court  into  a  forensick  panick,  at  seeing  this  young  stran- 
ger, on  his  knees,  at  the  base  of  the  altar  of  mercy  ! 
When  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  held  out  to  him  the 
sceptre  of  mercy,  and  desired  him  to  rise  from  off  his 
knees  :  when  the  young  man  presented  the  judges  with 
his  deplomas  and  other  credentials,  from  the  doctors  of 
law  under  whom  he  had  received  and  finished  his  foren- 
sick education  ;  and  also,  from  the  judges  of  one  of  the 
civil  courts,  in  one  of  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  at 
whose  bar  he  had  been  admitted  to  practice.  When 
the  judges  of  this  court  had  read  his  papers  or  rather 
parchments,  the  chief  judge  told  the  young  lawyer,  as 
it  was  late  in  the  day,  he  should  defer  his  request  until 
the  next  day ;  so  the  court  adjourned  to  meet  in  the 
same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


305 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


And  it  came  to  pass,  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
first  day,  that  this  court  met  pursuant  to  adjournment. 
And  when  the  Deistical  and  Jewish  ladies  and  gentle- 
men had  arrived,  and  taken  their  seats  in  the  great 
gallery,  and  the  two  wise  and  amiable  ladies.  Reason 


Figure  Xo.  1.  The  five  judges,  listening  to  the  prayer  and  argument  of  a 
young  Roman  lawyer,  in  tlie  behalf  of  the  priscnL'rs  at  the  bar,  who  are 
about  to  be  condemned  for  robbing  the  sepulchre. 

Nos.  2,  3,  4.  The  civick  altars  of  Mercy,  Justice  and  Truth,  which  the 
young  counsellor  refers  the  court  to,  during  his  legal  remarks  before  tije 
judges. 

No.  5.  The  young  lawyer,  who  prays  the  judges  to  be  permitted  to  cross 
examine  the  Roman  guards,  on  whose  testimony  alone,  this  court  had  con- 
victed the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  who  are  called  the  disciples  of  Christ. 

Xo.  6.  The  eleven  prisoners  chained  together  in  the  old  criminal's  box. 

No.  7.  The  states-attoi-ney,  on  the  side  of  the  kingdom  of  Infidelity,  view- 
ing the  weakness  of  this  young  upstart  in  legal  ai-gument,  [as  his' honour 
thought  to  himself,]  in  thus  undulating  the  tialm  sea  of  court  business,  in 
presenting  himself  at  the  bar  as  an  advocate  for  the  prisoners. 

Nos.  8  and  9.  Mr.  Gibhon'sold  friends  in  the  Roman  empire,  viz.  ladies 
Reason  and  Philosophy  ;  one  in  her  observatory,  and  the  other  at  her  meta- 
physick  and  other  absti-act  sciences  ;  so  that  all  those  marvellous  things  that 
have  any  association  -with  irnmortallity,  that  passed  over  the  land  of  Judea, 
were  quite  unobserved  by  these  two  ladies  :  *«  As  one  in  a  certain  place  testi- 
fieth :  that  the  natural  man  receireth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of  God  ; 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they 
are  spiritually  discerned.'* 

2c=^ 


306  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

and  Philosophy,  had  also  driven  up  in  their  plain  car- 
riage, and  alighted  and  taken  their  seats,— the  judges, 
and  all  the  other  forensick  elements,  which  constitu- 
ted the  legal  association  of  this  high  court  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge,   arrived,  and  took  their  seats ;  when 
the  eleven  prisoners,  by  the  marshal  and  high  sheriff  of 
Rome,  and  the  officers  of  the  state's  prison,  assisted  by 
four   quaternions  of  Roman  guards,    brought    in  the 
disciples,  chained  together,  and  placed  them  as  usual  in 
the  old  criminal's  box ;  when  the  young  Roman  bar- 
rister entered  the  court,  richly  clothed,  in  the  long  robes 
of  his  forensick  profession,  girded  about  the  loins  with 
a  sash  of  the  richest  needle  work,  which  the  young 
Roman  ladies,  in  consequence  of  his  wisdom,  beauty  and 
the  gracefulness  of  his  person,  had  wrought  for  him, 
as  a  singular  mark  of  their  intelligence  and  high  con- 
sideration ;  drawn  from  their  view  of  the  coindication 
they  had  of  this  young  civilian's  future  greatness,  at  the 
bar  of  his  country.      These  things  the  young  ladies 
gathered,  from  a  few  precocious  traits  he  manifested  in 
early  life.     The  object  the  ladies  had  in  view,  in  pre- 
senting their  young  countryman  with  this  superb  sash 
was,  for  him  to  be  girded  with  the  same,  when  he  should 
deliver  his  maiden  plea  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  on  the  behalf  of  persecuted  innocence, 
And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  isles  and  areas  of  this 
court  were  filled  to  a  state  of  almost  overflowing,  that 
the  legal  officer  of  the  court,  with  a  commanding  into- 
nation of  voice,  ordered  silence!  When  a  dead  calm 
pervaded  over  all  the  vocabulary  sea  of  this  court,  and 
all  the  pugnacious  elements  became  as  still  as  death. 
The  chief  judge  rose  and  informed  the  young  lawyer, 
that  the  court  was  in  readiness  to  hear  what  he  had  to 
advance,  in  favour  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.     When 
this  young  civilian  very  obsequiously  and  humbly  ad- 
dressed the  judges,  and  the  whole  court;  and  stated, 
that  his  object  was,  to  be  benignly  indulged  with  the 
singular  privilege,  to  cross-examine  the  royal  guards, 
who  had  the  sole  care  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
at  the  time  it  was  stolen  or  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  307 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  whole  of  this  enlightened  and  philoso- 
phical court,  which  is  now,  by  the  special  mandate  of 
our  liege  sovereign,  Tiberius  Caesar,  constituted  into  a 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the  dead  body, 
of  that  supposed  malefactor,  called  Christ.  I  again, 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  most  humbly 
and  devoutly  pray  and  beseech,  first  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  all  the  other  law  elements  of 
this  high  and  impartial  court  of  law  and  inquest,  to  be 
indulged  this  day,  to  present  a  few  rational  remarks  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  that  may  reach  the  audibility  of 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  who  at  the  same  time 
will  be  graciously  pleased  to  pardon  my  presuming 
boldness  on  this  subdolous,  and  also  mysterious  occa- 
sion :  and  what,  no  doubt,  makes  my  invasion  on  the 
time  and  business  of  this  court  appear  more  unpardon- 
able, is  my  being  a  perfect  stranger  to  all  the  forensick 
gentlemen  of  this  high  court  of  Areopagus.  But  seeing, 
that  by  the  profound  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  other 
worthy  deeds  and  legal  acts,  and  most  excellent  rules 
and  decisions,  that  by  the  forensick  providence  of  this 
court,  our  nation  has  for  many  ages  enjoyed,  in  the 
most  inexplicable  cases  of  civil,  military  and  ecclesias- 
tical litigation,  all  of  which  have  been  decided  to  the 
perfect  and  full  satisfaction  of  all  the  parties,  in  the 
suits  that  have  been  antecedently,  to  this  mysterious 
case,  brought  by  the  arm  of  the  law  to  its  bar  for  legal 
decision.  But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours, 
that  notwithstanding  my  foregoing  remarks,  that  1  be 
not  further  tedious  unto  your  honours  and  this  whole 
court,  I  pray,  that  this  court  would  hear  me  of  its 
clemency  in  a  few  words,  by  permiting  me  to  express 
the  heart  felt  pleasure  that  I  experience  this  day,  as 
well  as  the  most  entire  satisfaction  I  enjoy,  in  informing 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  this  whole  court, 
that  although  I  am  young  and  a  stranger  at  its  bar, 
yet  I  am  an  authorized  civilian  of  Roman  law,  as  the 
diplomas  and  other  authentick  credentials  from  the 
courts  in  one  of  the  distant  provinces  of  the  empire, 


308  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

which  I  handed  to  your  honours  last  evening,  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  do  fully  set  forth. 

When  the  chief  judge  signified  to  the  young  advocate 
to  pause  ;  and  the  judge  desired  the  court  to  be  silent 
and  as  composed  as  possible,  [as  this  unexpected  re- 
quisition on  its  legal  proceedings,  had  somewhat 
agitated  the  calm  sea  of  this  court,]  in  order,  said  the 
chief  judge,  that  the  court  may  distinctly  hear  what  this 
young  gentleman  has  to  say,  on  the  behalf  of  the  pris- 
oners at  the  bar,  why  the  just  sentence  of  the  law, 
should  not  be  inflicted  on  them  ;  or  what  other  remarks 
he  has  to  make  against  the  legal,  just,  and  impartial 
proceedings  of  this  court,  in  the  case  of  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,  who  now 
stand  convicted,  and  are  in  waiting  to  be  condemned 
to  suffer  death,  for  their  daring  crimes  and  malevolence, 
against  the  doctrines  of  our  gods  :  so  that  if  their  physi- 
cal existence,  in  the  sea  of  suffering,  had  buoyancy 
sufficient  to  sustain  the  onerous  and  just  requisition  of 
the  law  against  them,  they  ought  to  sutler  death  three 
times. 

The  foregoing  remarks  of  the  chief  judge,  soon  caus- 
ed a  most  profound  silence  to  prevail  over  all  the  spec- 
tators in  the  court.  When  the  young  advocate  for  the 
prisoners,  thus  proceeded  :  May  it  most  benignly  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  to  indulge 
me  to  say,  that  from  the  high  consideration  which  my 
mind  entertains,  of  the  high  character  of  this  august 
tribunal,  and  also  for  the  pre-eminence  of  all  its  just 
and  righteous  decisions,  towards  all  persons  and  causes, 
that,  please  the  court,  have  antecedently  to  this  trial, 
been  either  brought  or  placed  at  the  bar  of  this  court 
of  impartial  law  and  inquest.  Therefore,  from  the 
pleasing  reflection,  that  I  this  day  entertain,  of  its  past 
rectitude,  as  it  were,  almost  involuntarily  leads  me  to 
experience  the  fullest  assurance,  in  my  own  heart,  that 
this  court  still  entertains  an  onerous  sense  of  its  past 
fame,  with  a  full  determination  to  stand  firm  on  the  old 
impartial  pedestals  of  Roman  justice,  truth  and  mercy, 
safely  shielded  within  the  purlieu  of  all  its  legal  acta 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  309 

and  decisions ;  and  also,  of  its  own  responsibility,  to 
honourably  sustain,  before  all  mankind,  all  the  unfaded 
laurels  of  its  antecedent  glory,  and  the  wide  spread 
fame,  that  has  ere  this  day,  gone  out  into  all  the  world, 
respecting  its  profound  wisdom  and  knowledge,  of  men 
and  things;  as  well  as  the  impartial  justice,  of  all  its 
legal  proceedings. 

And  now,  may  it  graciously  please  your  learned 
honours,  to  further  indulge  me  to  speak  a  few  words, 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  on  the  behalf  of  the  prisoners 
in  chains,  called  by  their  friends  the  disciples  of  Christ. 
Now,  your  learned  honours  cannot  be  insensible,  that 
this  doctrine,  called  the  gospel,  has  greatly  spread  a 
spirit  of  effervescence,  [against  our  gods  of  silver  and 
gold,]  more  or  less  throughout  the  Roman  empire;  and 
this  too,  may  it  please  your  honours,  since  the  reported 
robbery,  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  dead  body  of  that  sup- 
posed malefactor,  called  Christ.  Now,  please  the  court, 
on  the  mere  supposition  that  this  report  is  legally  true, 
that  these  prisoners  did  steal  the  cadaverous,  deteriora- 
ting body  of  a  crucified  man,  out  of  his  sepulchre,  and 
then  go  throughout  the  world  proclaiming  the  said  body 
to  be  now  a  living  God!  I  would  first  ask  your  honours, 
who  have  had  long  experience  at  the  bars  of  our  courts, 
and  have  some  know^ledge  of  the  subdolous  schemes, 
and  other  knavish  plans  and  artful  designs  of  mankind, 
in  order  to  obtain  riches,  power,  honour  or  fame — so 
that,  I  have  no  doubt,  but  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  have  a  very  extensive  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  But,  notwithstanding  your  plenary  share  of 
the  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  I  would  humbly  and 
obsequiously  ask  the  judges  of  this  court,  whether  or 
not  your  honours  could  obtain  eleven  men,  blessed  with 
a  state  of  sanity,  in  all  the  courts  and  prisons  in  the 
Roman  empire,  to  undertake  such  an  unreasonable 
scheme,  either  to  get  money,  power  or  honour — to  go 
and  rob  a  grave  of  a  crucified  body,  of  some  malefactor, 
and  then  go  through  the  world,  telling  the  unreasonable 
tale,  that  it  had  come  to  life  again  !  This,  I  perceive,  is 


310  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  stamina  of  the  crime,  these  prisoners  are  charged 
with  at  the  bar  of  this  court. 

In  the  first  place,  I  pray  and  even  beseech  yom- 
honours  the  judges,  with  the  whole  court,  to  take  a 
peering  look  at  those  down-cast  looking  prisoners,  and 
then  indulge  me  to  ask  your  honours,  if  it  is  possible 
that  these  poor  dolorous  looking  Galilean  fishermen,  of 
the  isolated  sea  of  Galilee,  !w3&re  capable  of  carrying 
such  a  wild  subdolous  scheme  into  successful  operation! 
First,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  suffer  me  to 
beseech  you  to  look  at  their  uncouth  demeanor ;  their 
rustic  manners ;  and  the  blustrous  intonation  of  their 
voices  ;  all  of  which  is  still  made  more  repulsive  to  good 
sense,  by  their  unclassical  style  :  so  that  these  dolorous 
knaves,  (if,  indeed,  knaves  they  be,)  do  not  look  as  if 
they  possessed  either  the  art  or  power  of  civil  or  moral 
suasion,  to  cause  the  world  to  believe  such  an  idle  tale. 
What,  please  your  learned  honours,  a  most  wild,  ex- 
travagant, and  preposterous  idea  !  That  these  fishmen, 
of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  should  give  up  the  lucrative  busi- 
ness [as  has  already  been,  by  a  learned  barrister,  stated 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,]  of  fishing,  in  order  to  go  and  fish 
for  the  crucified  body  of  a  supposed  malefactor;  and 
entirely  forsake  the  ready  market  of  old  Jerusalem,  and 
travel  over  the  Roman  empire,  with  this  cadaverous 
deteriorating  merchandize ;  endeavouring  to  sell  the 
same  to  millions  of  Greeks  and  Romans  ;  many  of  them 
being  both  wise  and  shrewd  persons. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges 
of  this  once  high  and  impartial  court — of  the  charges 
in  the  indictment  against  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the 
bar — the  simple  conclusion  must  be,  that  these  down- 
cast, simple  looking  prisoners,  are  in  the  possesion 
of  some  surprising  art,  and  god-like  skill,  which  I  per- 
ceive this  high  court  of  chancery,  with  all  its  philoso- 
phical wisdom,  does  not  fully  understand.  And  now, 
may  I  be  so  bold,  as  to  ask  your  learned  honours.  If  it 
is  not  a  general  axiom  with  the  wisest  of  men,  both  in 
church  and  state,  that  all  men  have  their  price?  And 
if  it  is  not  at  this  critical  juncture  of  the  trial  rather 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  311 

irrelevant,  I  would  add,  that  all  men  have  some  object 
in  view,  when  they  undertake  some  unwarrantable 
scheme,  to  carry  their  sombre  designs  into  full  effect. 
I  would  again  ask  this  all-important  question:  although 
I  do  not  admire  what  is  called  tautology,  either  in  a 
speaker  or  writer  : — therefore,  I  humbly  and  obse- 
quiously ask  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this 
court,  that  when  any  set  of  knavish  and  designing  men, 
set  out  on  some  dark,  clandestine  and  daring  enterprise, 
are  they  not,  may  it  please  your  honours,  more  or  less 
governed  by  some  motive,  or  guided  by  some  object,  of 
either  power,  honour,  interest,  or  fame  1  Take,  please 
your  honours,  these  exciting  or  stimulating  elements  to 
action  away  from  men,  and  the  once  ambient  air  which 
gives  vitality  to  action,  either  in  a  good  or  bad  sense, 
becomes  a  dead  sea,  and  an  elementary  calm;  and  man 
becomes  a  floating  mass  upon  its  lifeless  and  motionless 
surface.  My  conclusion  is  this,  may  it  please  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  that  if  the  charges  in  the  in- 
dictment, against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  be  true,  as 
were  first  reported  by  the  watch,  and  then  by  Caiaphas, 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  by  the  whole  Jewish 
people,  who  are  scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  to  this  day — that  if  these  prisoners  did  indeed 
rob  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  I 
would,  while  I  continue  to  float  down  on  the  perennial 
stream  of  tautology,  ask  your  very  learned  honours, 
What  object  they  could  possibly  paint,  or  in  any  wise 
portray  on  the  dull  telegraph  of  their  net-mending  and 
fish-catching  minds,  in  their  hawking  the  nauseous 
body  of  a  dead  man,  [that  had  been  crucified  before 
thousands  of  living  witnesses,  on  a  Roman  cross,] 
throughout  the  world;  or  of  hiding  his  nauseous  and 
deteriorating  body,  in  some  sly  fox's  den  ;  and  then 
getting  up  the  most  unreasonable  and  idle  tale,  (if  it  is 
not  true,)  that  they  did  not  steal  his  crucified  body  out 
of  the  sepulchre.  But,  that  contrary  to  all  the  old 
deteriorating  laws  of  nature,  following  close  in  the 
wake  of  the  deleterious  wake  of  time,  on  the  bodies  of 
men,  when  once  the  vital  spark  of  animal  life  has  de- 


312  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

parted  from  its  sombre  tabernacle,  and  nauseous  slaugh- 
ter-house of  flesh  and  blood,  which  renders  the  human 
subject  so  exceedingly  repulsive  to  our  alfactory  nerves  ; 
and  these  sheep-faced  followers  of  their  crucified  shep- 
herd, should  undertake  to  go  and  present  themselves 
before  the  wisdom,  knowledge,  learning  and  science  of 
the  greek  and  latin  world,  in  their  unclassical  and  ver- 
nacular vocabulary,  proclaiming  that  this  said  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead,  by  some  mysterious  and  supra-mun- 
dane agency  ;  that  the  Jews,  and  the  whole  world, 
were  at  the  time  of  this  supernatural  embargo,  on  the 
old  laws  of  nature,  entirely  unacquainted  with ;  that 
is,  please  this  court,  on  the  supposition,  that  these 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  did  indeed,  out  of  their  fishermen 
skulls,  ingeniously  and  subdolously  manufacture  this 
artful  and  plausible  tale,  called  the  gospel ;  in  order,  to 
set  up  a  new  theological  hierarchy  in  the  world. 

I  will  for  the  last  time  embargo  your  honours' 
patience,  and  ask,  whether  our  liege  sovereign  Tiberius, 
has  got  in  his  empire,  another  set  of  artful  and  ingenious 
villains,  that  would  gratuitously  embark  in  such  a  hope- 
less enterprise,  as  the  charge  in  the  indictment  does 
set  forth  ?  that  these  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  did 
actually  steal  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre?  Your  honours  see,  that  I  have  gratuitously 
taken  the  freedom  of  placing  these  few  remarks,  on  the 
telegraph  of  this  court's  good  sense,  as  a  few  prefatory 
outlines  to  my  humble  prayer,  in  the  behalf  of  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  who  are  called  the  disciples  of 
Christ.  Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  that  since  this  court  has,  in  its  clemency, 
granted  me,  although  a  stranger,  the  indulgence  (which 
1  shall  to  the  end  of  my  days  always  consider  as  a 
special  favour,  to  present  myself  at  the  august  bar  of 
this  high  court  of  chancery,  and  on  the  present  occasion, 
constituted  into  a  court  of  law  and  inquest  over  the 
dead  body  of  Christ.  Therefore,  suffer  me  to  inform 
this  court,  that  my  youthful  sensibility  prevents  me 
from  keeping  the  views  of  my  mind  concealed  any 
longer :  I  therefore  shall  spread  them  before  this  court ; 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  313 

as  I  have  already  experienced  many  a  painful  sensa- 
tion, in  smothering  my  disgust  at  the  proceedings  of 
this  court,  during  the  trial  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar: 
to  Avit— :may  it  please  your  honours,  that  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,  have  not  had 
all  that  equal  and  full  share  of  justice  shown  unto  them, 
in  the  prosecution  of  this  singular  trial,  that  the  other 
parties,  who  were  more  or  less  implicated  in  the  base 
robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  [if,  indeed,  that  subdolous 
and  sombre  catastrophe  has  any  foundation  in  truth,] 
have  had.  Therefore,  for  a  moment,  suffer  me  as  the 
gratuitous  advocate  for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  to 
freely  indulge  the  elevation  of  my  former  views,  re- 
specting the  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  court 
in  general;  but  especially,  that  of  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  and  gentlemen  of  the  jury  :  therefore,  your 
honours  I  humbly  presume,  might  clearly  see  with  half 
a  legal  eye,  that  Caiaphas,  who  was  the  national  high 
priest  of  the  Jews;  and  Pontius  Pilate,  who  was  the 
Roman  procurator  of  Judea,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem; 
and  the  Centurion,  who  was  an  officer  of  considerable 
standing  and  notoriety  in  the  Roman  army  of  our  liege 
sovereign  Tiberius :  therefore,  may  it  please  your 
honours,  to  admit  the  relevancy  of  my  remarks,  which 
are  as  follows :  that  this  high  court  of  chancery,  are 
fully  apprized  in  the  elements  of  your  legal  information, 
and  must  be  entirely  satisfied  in  your  minds,  that  the 
three  foregoing  gentlemen,  w^ere  persons  clothed  with 
either  ecclesiastical,  civil  or  military  power ;  and  tw^o 
of  them,  in  the  most  plenary  sense  of  the  word;  and  I 
presume,  the  court  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt,  but 
that  they  had  more  or  less  the  command  of  silver  and 
gold  ;  which  of  course,  put  it  in  their  power  to  com- 
mand the  very  best  counsel,  that  the  bar  of  Roman  law 
could  produce.  And  I  humbly  presupie,  this  court  has 
not  lost  sight  of  another  cardinal  point,  in  the  over-ruling 
compass  ;  the  which,  when  w^ell  charged,  points  by  the 
yellow  magnet,  always  to  the  client's  interest  in  courts 
of  law :  to  wit,  that  those  three  gentlemen,  were  more 
or  less  persons  of  some  wisdom,  knowledge  and  science, 
2d 


314  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

in  their  different  professions;  which  embraced  civil 
and  martial  law  in  the  persons  of  Pilate  and  the  Cen- 
turion; and  of  theology  in  the  person  of  Caiaphas. 
Therefore,  suffer  me  lo  make  this  appeal  to  your  good 
sense.  And  though  I  experience  a  small  degree  of  dif- 
fidence, on  account  of  my  youth,  and  being  a  stranger 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  and  at  the  same  time  my  Roman 
education  has  richly  imbued  my  mind  with  a  due 
reverence  for  the  aged,  which  I  humbly  trust  does  this 
day  guide  me,  by  the  leading  strings  of  my  early  tuition, 
to  pay  that  diffidence  and  graceful  respect  to  the 
onerous  atmosphere  of  years,  Avhich  I  behold  on  many 
of  the  venerable  heads,  who  constitute  the  bench  and 
bar  of  this  court.  Nevertheless,  suffer  me  to  make  this 
appeal  to  your  honours  the  judges,  and  all  the  gentle- 
men of  the  bar  present — that  is,  that  silver  and  gold, 
power  and  science,  act  like  the  oil  of  the  olive,  on  the 
springs  and  wheels  of  some  complicated  pieces  of 
machinery.  The  moral  of  my  mechanical  simile,  is 
this :  and  I  humbly  presume  by  so  doing,  I  shall  not 
undulate  your  honours'  forensick  sensibility  too  moun- 
tainously  high,  by  presenting  the  same  in  open  court 
this  day :  that  our  clients,  who  have  plenty  of  the 
precious  article  of  silver  and  gold,  to  oil  that  wonder- 
ful, and  at  the  same  time  exceedingly  simple,  in  its 
apparent  construction  and  outward  organization,  (and 
as  one  has  both  judiciously  and  pertinently  observed, 
''Therewith  bless  we  God,  even  the  Father;  and  there- 
with curse  we  men,  which  are  made  after  the  similitude 
of  God :")  I  mean,  that  little  piece  of  natural  machi- 
nery, which  in  our  vernacular  language  we  call  the 
tongue.  1  iterate,  that  our  clients,  who  have  a  plenary 
share  of  the  precious  metal  to  oil  our  court  vocabulary, 
which  will  give  to  us  lawyers  a  wonderful  vibration, 
and  a  marvellous  oscillatory  motion:  so  that,  please 
your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  court,  either 
the  plaintiff  or  defendant,  as  the  case  may  happen,  w^ho 
has  an  abundance  of  gold  dust  to  apply  to  our  foren- 
sick opticks,  will  sometimes,  when  the  telescope  of  in- 
terest is  elevated  to  our  legal  vision,  cause  us  to  see 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  315 

both  plaintiff  and  defendant,  either  guilty  or  innocent, 
as  the  legal  atmosphere  has  been  more  or  less  surchar- 
ged with  the  onerous  article  of  gold.  And  if  it  be 
neap-tide  with  the  defendant  in  the  yellow  element, 
then  the  pale  article  of  silver  must  be  embargoed,  as  a 
commutation  for  the  delinquency  of  the  yellow  g<^l<^>  to 
remunerate  us  for  our  labour  of  love  and  kindness  in 
our  client's  case.  Then,  I  say,  please  your  honours, 
we  very  justly  expect,  that  the  mathematical  dimen- 
sions of  the  silver  will  be  enlarged  ;  so  that,  we  keep  in 
view  our  court  adage,  "  that  an  honest  man  is  the 
noblest  work  of  God  :"  which,  in  many  of  our  lower 
courts  of  common  law,  our  forensick  weakness  at  times 
is  such,  that  legal  light  experiences  a  momentary 
obscuration,  of  the  moral  sun  of  truth  and  justice ; 
especially,  when  the  gold  dust  flies  in  every  direction 
in  our  courts,  and  is  apt  to  settle  on  our  legal  glasses, 
when  we  look  either  at  the  interest  or  guilt  of  our 
client's  person.  So  that  this  yellow  dust,  will  cause 
us  to  see  either  a  plaintiff,  defendant,  or  prisoner's 
guilt — when  in  our  conscience,  law  and  equity,  we  are 
sensible  they  are  innocent.  And  I  may  reverse  the 
case — for  I  wish  to  be  honest  before  the  bar  of  this 
court : — How  often  is  it  to  be  seen,  in  our  petty  courts 
of  civil  law,  that  the  yellow  dust  blinds  our  minds, 
warps  our  judgments,  and  let  me  add,  palsies  with  a 
sleepy  opiate  our  consciences— so  that  we  can  defend 
the  guilty,  and  plead  against  the  innocent — and  as 
much  as  in  us  lieth,  help  to  bring  about  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  guiltless. 

These  things,  my  forensick  friends,  brethren  and 
fathers,  ought  not  so  to  be ;  which  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I 
have  often  seen  to  be  the  case,  in  many  of  our  lower 
courts  of  judicature.  But,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I 
therefore  humbly  inform  this  court,  that  the  foregoing 
remarks  I  have  made,  are  only  designed  to  be  general; 
and  where  the  shoe  does  not  fit,  no  gentleman  at  this 
bar  will  bruise  his  corns,  by  putting  my  impugning 
shoe  on  his  tender  and  delicate  feet.   Therefore,  I  pray 


316  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

your  honours  the  judges,  with  this  whole  court,  not  to 
impugn  my  motives,  from  the  foregoing  hints,  which  I 
have  this  day  thrown  out  in  the  audibihty  of  your  learn- 
ed honours  the  judges.  But  as  a  matter  of  course,  may 
it  please  your  honours,  I  am  led  to  look  for  more  purity 
of  acts  and  motives,  in  the  legal  practice  and  decision 
of  this  highly  famed  court.  And  I  can  assure  your 
honours,  that  I  experience  no  latent  desire  on  my  part, 
at  this  time,  to  throw  out  any  uncharitable  reflections 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  respecting  its  antecedent  pro- 
ceedings; neither  do  I  wish,  irreverently  to  impugn 
the  wisdom  of  its  legal  acts ;  nor  is  it  my  design,  this 
day,  to  place  any  gentleman  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
on  an  innuendo's  rack,  in  order  to  let  fly  my  arrows  of 
sarcastical  and  fastidious  ingenuity  at  him,  with  aview^ 
to  torture  his  forensick  sensibilities. 

But  with  respect  to  the  legal  decisions  of  this  court, 
toward  the  other  parties  in  this  trial,  which  your  learn- 
ed honours  the  judges,  in  full  unison  of  judgment,  with 
the  forensick  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  all  the  other 
law  elements  of  this  profound  and  august  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  who  have  so  very  honourably  cleared  the 
foregoing  gentlemen — to  wit :  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the 
Centurion ;  all  being,  both  in  point  of  law  and  fact, 
entirely  innocent  of  the  sad  loss ;  which  is,  I  perceive, 
the  phraseology  employed  by  your  honours  when  speak- 
ing on  that  ever  to  be  lamented  catastrophe,  the  elope- 
ment of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  will  this  court  be  so 
kind  as  to  indulge  me  to  draw  this  plain  and  simple 
conclusion — to  wit:  that  since  your  honours  the  judges, 
in  unison  with  the  other  law  elements  of  this  court, 
have  so  graciously  indulged  Caiaphas,  Pilate,  and  the 
Centurion,  with  a  full  opportunity  of  obtaining  and 
employing  the  most  able  and  learned  counsel,  which  the 
bar  of  our  country  doth  so  amply  aflford  ;  therefore, 
my  inference,  please  the  court,  would  be  this ;  will  it 
not  leave  in  the  eye  of  an  impartial  world,  and  also  in 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


317 


the  view  of  all  future  generations,  at  least  an  oblique 
impression  on  their  minds,  that  in  this  all-important 
trial  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  for  robbing  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  the  prisoners  have 
not  been  fairly  dealt  by.  So  that,  please  your  honours, 
when  men  of  good  sense,  having  a  sane  mind,  and  at 
the  same  time  possessing  a  small  share  of  legal  dis- 
cernment, shall  in  ages  to  come,  canvass  over  and 
dispassionately  view,  and  calmly  take  an  excursive 
survey  of  all  the  proceedings  of  this  court,  on  this  in- 
teresting trial,  and  view  the  large  share  of  legal  indul- 
gence, that  this  court  has  shown  towards  the  three 
rich,  honourable  and  influential  parties,  in  this  singular 
trial,  who  through  the  ascendency,  which  their  elevated 
stations  in  office,  their  riches,  with  the  civil,  military 
and  ecclesiastical  powers,  which  were  associated  with 
their  functions,  under, the  Roman  government:  I  say, 
please  your  honours,  will  not  persons  of  discernment 
say,  that  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the  Centurion,  had  every 
possible  advantage  over  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  which 
was  within  the  range  of  mental,  scientific,  ecclesiasti- 
cal, civil  and  military  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  all 
other  capabilities,  that  untrammelled  power  and  author- 
ity could  possibly  give  to  any  order  of  men,  as  defend- 
ants of  their  own  words  and  acts,  on  one  side  of  a  suit 
or  trial  at  law.  And  I  have  no  kind  of  hesitancy  in 
believing,  that  your  honours  will  gratuitously  grant  us, 
were  the  case  with  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the  Centurion. 
Well  then,  by  your  honours'  leave,  Pll  give  this  court  a 
small  synopsis,  or  if  you  please,  a  statistical  relation 
of  the  other  side  of  the  case,  now  pending  at  the  bar  of 
this  court.  These  prisoners,  who  are  chained  fast 
together  in  the  old  criminal's  box,  who,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  (I  will  gratuitously  answer  on  the  side  of 
this  court,)  are  a  set  of  plebeian,  money-less  wretches, 
made  up  of  a  .tax-gatherer,  and  ten  fishermen,  as  I 
have  once  stated,  of  the  small  lake  or  little  sea  of 
Galilee,  and  are  now  in  the  most  forlorn  condition — 
entirely  destitute  of  wisdom,  knowledge,  science,  power, 
honour  and  office,  under  our  sovereign;  without  friends, 

2d* 


318  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

in  either  church  or  state ;  and  in  a  word,  they  are  all 
entirely  destitute  of  the  yellow,  and  pale  elements,  and 
other  influential  capabilities,  which  the  good  sense  of 
your  learned  honours  well  know,  is  so  admirably  cal- 
culated to  give  a  propelling  principle,  and  successful 
agency  to  a  barrister's  tongue,  so  as  to  be  employed  in 
these  eleven  prisoners'  behalf.  Yes,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  it  is  a  most  notorious  fact,  that  these  eleven 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  called  the  disciples  of  Christ,  had 
not  in  this  court,  during  their  trial,  to  their  knowledge, 
a  solitary  friend — nor  power,  nor  riches,  nor  science  at 
their  command;  neither,  please  your  honours,  had  they 
ecclesiastical,  civil  or  military  influence  on  their  side. 
Therefore,  this  small  synopsis,  or  rather  statistical 
statement,  I  have  given  the  court,  I  presume  the  notes 
which  your  honours  the  judges,  with  the  states-attorney 
and  other  forensick  gentlemen  of  this  court,  have  taken, 
of  all  that  has  been  presented  for  and  against  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  will  go  fully,  I  shall  gratuitously 
take  it  for  granted,  to  justify  my  statement  of  their 
case,  and  the  outward  condition  of  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar.  But,  that  I  be  not  further  tedious  with  my  re- 
marks, on  the  antecedent  prosecution  of  this  trial,  now 
pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  I  would  just  say, 
please  your  honours,  my  conscience  following  close  in 
the  wake,  of  what  I  experience  to  be  my  duty  to  these 
poor  hopeless,  pennyless  and  friendless  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  onerously  propels  me,  to  somewhat  impugn  the 
proceedings  of  this  court,  in  condemning  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  from  the  mere  outward  gloss,  that  your 
honours  the  judges  and  jury,  have  given  to  the  guards' 
evidence :  and  that  this  heretofore  wise  and  profound 
court,  and  intelligent,  and  heretofore  impartial  jury, 
who  have  merely  glanced  at  the  merits  of  the  witnesses' 
testimony,  say  that  from  a  very  superficial  investigation 
of  the  volatile  elements  of  which  their  evidence  was 
composed,  the  jury  have  brought  in  their  verdict  to  this 
court  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoners  ;  and  from  which 
superficial  verdict  of  the  jury,  I  perceive  your  honours' 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  319 

minds  are  prepared  to  flow  into  the  condign  wake  of 
the  jury,  and  pass  the  sentence  of  death  upon  them. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges  of  this  trial,  with  the  jury,  I  humbly  pray  and 
most  devoutly  beseech  you,  as  the  highest  court  of  the 
empire,  to  pause  for  a  few  moments,  and  stop  the  rum- 
bling wheels  of  the  iron  chariot  of  death,  before  it 
reaches  the  verge  of  a  most  tremendous  law  cataract, 
and  the  rushing  current  suddenly  precipitate  the  char- 
acter and  glory  of  this  court,  into  the  constuperating 
vortex  of  legal  disease  ;  and  this  far-famed  court  be 
overwhelmed  in  disgrace  forever.  And  it  perhaps  may 
be  the  case,  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of 
this  high  court  of  chancery,  through  the  want  of  clear- 
ness in  your  legal  vision,  or  perspicuity,  in  your  reas- 
oning on  the  testimony,  on  which  you  have  formed  your 
opinion  and  judgment  of  the  prisoners'  guilt — or  what- 
ever other  physical  or  mental  cause  has,  during  the 
trial  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  located  itself  on  your 
persons,  which  please  your  honours,  1  charitably  hope 
may  be  the  Case,  has  undesignedly  led  you  to  become 
the  unfelicitous  agents,  of  disrobing  this  high-famed 
court  of  Areopagus,  or  on  this  special  occasion,  the 
high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  dead  body  of 
Christ,  of  all  its  antecedent  glory.  Therefore,  I  once 
more  exclaim  in  the  audibility  of  this  court,  stop  the 
rumbling  wheels  of  the  chariot  of  death,  by  command- 
ing its  pale,  its  cadaverous  charioteer,  to  rein  up  his 
pale  steeds,  and  command  the  postillion  to  suddenly 
turn  the  fore-horses  round,  from  the  awful  precipice, 
and  the  gapping  gulf  of  interminable  disgrace  and  ruin 
below. 


A  NOTE  BY  THE  STENOGRAPHER. 

Wilful  and  ungodly  sinner,  hear  what  this  young  lawyer 
says  to  the  judges  and  court  of  Areopagus,  but  especially  to 
the  Jews  and  Deists !  Stop  the  wheels  of  the  iron-bound 
chariot,  of  the  hardness  and  unbelief  of  your  hearts,  and  rein- 
tip  the  fiery  steeds  of  your  sinful  lustSj  and  call  out  to  the 
postillion  of  mercy,  to  suddenly  turn  t\\Q  fore-horses  in  the 


320  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  this  whole  court,  my  devout  prayer  to  the 
gods  of  the  empire,  who  are  said  to  always  preside  over 
the  civick  altars  of  justice,  truth  and  mercy  is,  that 
they  will,  by  their  united  wisdom,  power  and  influence, 
on  vour  honours,  and  the  whole  mind  of  this  court,  even 
at  ''  the  eleventh  hour,"  in  this  most  critical  stage  of 
the  trial,  most  graciously  and  benignly  grant  you, 
all  that  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge,  which  the  onerous 
nature  of  the  subject  andcase>  demands  at  your  serious 
responsibility. 

And  I  now  obsequiously  and  humbly  pray  this  w^hole 
court,  to  be  indulged  to  place  before  its  solemn  bar,  my 
plenary  and  most  cordial  approbation,  of  all  its  legal 
proceedings,  in  the  examination  and  acquital  of  their 
honours  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the  Centurion.  The 
court  will  indulge  me  to  state  to  their  honours  the 
judges,  in  a  few  words,  the  altitude  of  the  heart-felt 
satisfaction,  which  I  experienced,  at  the  just  and  im- 
partial proceedings  of  this  court,  towards  those  three 
gentlemen  last  named ;  which  has  made  an  indelible, 
and  I  humbly  trust,  a  lasting  impression,  on  my  mind; 
which  the  ravages  of  time  will  never  be  able  to  eradi- 
cate. Yes,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  I  do  experience,  while  standing  in  the  presence 
of  your  honours,  on.  whose  venerable  heads,  as  I  have 
once  said,  I  see  the  silver  locks,  that  have  been  bleach- 
ed by  the  onerous  atmosphere  of  past  years.  Then 
suffer  me  to  inform  you,  that  in  viewing  the  rectitude 
of  this  court,  in  the  three  cases  already  alluded  to — in- 
dulge me  to  say,  that  I  do  experience,  that  the  element 
of  my  vernacular  tongue,  and  the  poverty  of  the  Roman 
language,  is  too  inadequate  to  fully  describe  what  I 
now  experience  ;  which  for  the  passing  moment,  causes 
me  to  desire  the  aid  of  some  supra-mundane  language, 
. — .» — ■ —       - — ■ —  ■  ■  "        —  ■ ' 

chariot  of  your  transgression,  before  you  reach  the  awful  and 
tremendous  verge  of  interminable  ruin,  and  are  suddenly 
precipitated  into  the  vortex  of  the  high  displeasure,  and  the 
wrath  of  Almighty  God  forever. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  321 

or  the  vocabulary  we  are  led  to  believe  the  holy  gods 
employ,  to  communicate  their  category  [that  is,  ideas] 
to  each  other  :  I  say,  please  your  learned  honours,  the 
poverty  of  my  language  has,  as  it  were,  laid  a  kind  of 
iron-bound  embargo,  or  rather  a  sanitary  quarantine, 
on  the  softer  and  finer  emotions  of  my  heart.  There- 
fore I  once  more  unfeigned ly,  and  most  devoutly  pray 
your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  to  graciously  indulge  me  with  a  con- 
tinuance of  those  perennial  waters  of  legal  justice  and 
mercy,  so  that  I  may  ever  enjoy  those  indescribable  sen- 
sations of  mind,  while  this  court  shall  continue  to  dis- 
play its  unfurled  banners  over  the  ancient  altars  of  our 
country — and  let  a  share  of  the  sacred  elements  of 
justice,  truth  and  mercy,  be  impartially  shown  towards 
the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  who  are 
called  the  disciples  of  Christ. 

And  that  1  be  not  further  tedious,  I  shall  now  make 
my  dernier  request,  and  present  my  valedictory  prayer 
to  this  court,  that  it  will  indulge  me,  with  the  legal 
privilege,  to- cross-examine  the  watch,  who  stood  guard 
over  the  sepulchre,  on  the  night  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  was  said  to  be  taken  out  of  the  same.  I  have 
now^  done,  please  your  honours  the  judges.  When  the 
young  lawyer  sat  dow^n  and  said  no  more. 

The  young  lawyer  having  taken  his  seat  in  a  chair, 
before  the  bar  of  the  court :  when  it  came  to  pass,  that 
this  sudden  and  very  unexpected  prayer  from  this  young, 
but  noble  hearted  civilian,  threw  the  whole  court  into 
a  serious  dilemma;  when  the  chief  judge  rose  and  in- 
formed the  court,  that  the  judges  would  have  to  retire 
to  a  private  room  in  the  court,  for  a  few  hours ;  and  as 
it  was  the  sixth-hour  of  the  day,  the  officers  and  spec- 
tators had  full  liberty  to  leave  the  court,  in  order,  if 
they  felt  so  inclined,  to  i-efresh  themselves.  When  the 
court  was  soon  vacated,  and  the  judges  went  into  the 
upper  chamber.  (See  No.  2  on  the  plate,)  w  here  their 
learned  honours  had  much  deep  reasoning  with  each 
other,  on  what  would  be  the  most  prudent  measure  to/^ 
pursue,  and  the  wisest  steps  to  be  adopted,  in  order, 


322 


CillllST  REJECTED. 


like  wise  men,  to  meet  the  emergency  of  this  nebulous 
and  very  mysterious  concatenation,  which  the  inexpli- 
cable providence  of  the  gods  has  permitted  to  perplex 
and  embarrass  their  proceedings  :  when  the  legal  fever 
of  their  heads  would  rise  to  such  an  acme,  that  the 
ordinary  movements  of  the  rational  machinery  of  their 


No.  1.  The  bench  of  this  court  is  vacated  by  the  five  judges,  in 
order  to  deUbei^ate,  what  answer  to  give  to  the  prayer  of  the  young 
lawyer. 

No.  2.  The  up]ier  chamber  of  tlie  court,  where  tlie  five  judges 
retire,  to  consult  together  on  this  unforeseen  procrastination  of  the 
trial. 

No.  3.  The  Jewish  and  Deistical  gentlemen  and  ladies,  leave  the 
great  gallery,  and  go  to  refresh  themselves,  during  the  vacation  of 
court  business. 

No.  4.  The  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy,  retire  also,  with  a  small 
depreciation  in  the  bloom  of  their  rosy  countenances,  and  rather  a 
sombre  cast  in  their  once  scintillating  and  rolling  eyes. 

No.  5.  The  young  lawyer  in  his  chair,  writing  his  notes,  and 
making  his  memorandums. 

No.  6.  The  poor  prisoners  in  durance  in  the  old  criminal's  box, 
•without  even  bread  or  water.  But  God  was  with  them,  and  was  in 
this  marvellous  concatenation  of  his  providence,  about  to  lose  their 
fetters  and  break  their  chains  asunder. 

And  now  suffer  the  christian  sailor  to  exclaim,  Glory  to  God  the 
Father !  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost !  for  ever  and  ever 
men. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  323 

minds,  would  every  now  and  then  increase  its  velocity: 
and  their  tongues  would  very  often  leave  the  line  of 
demarcation,  which  logic  and  sound  legal  argument 
have  laid  down,  as  a  helm  and  polar  star  to  guide  a 
civilian  in  times  of  danger.  So  that  the  spasms  of  this 
forensick  fever,  caused  their  minds  and  tongues  to  fall 
oft'  into  some  interlocutory,  and  at  times  incongruous 
vocabulary  with  each  other,  till  their  ideas  became 
rapsodous  and  wild :  then  recovering  themselves,  the 
judges  would  rationally  and  reciprocally  interchange 
their  legal  views  and  opinions,  oil  the  best  measures  ot 
forensick  prudence  to  be  pursued,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  ancient  honour  and  glory  of  this  court,  that  had 
been  so  lonoj  famed  throughout  the  world  for  its  unde- 
viating  principles  in  law  and  equity.  So  that  this  un- 
expected interference  in  this  trial  of  the  disciples,  for 
their  (supposed)  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ,  by  this  young  civilian,  went  like  a 
powerful  shock  of  electricity,  throughout  the  whole 
court :  and  to  use  a  marine  figure,  it  was  like  the  sails 
of  a  ship,  that  were  suddenly  struck  with  ahead  squall 
of  wind,  when  it  throws  the  sails  back  on  the  mast ; 
and  the  effect  produced  is,  that  it  gives  to  the  vessel, 
what  mariners  C3\\  stem-way :  just  so  in  a  legal  and 
moral  sense,  this  sudden  breeze  from  the  prayer  of  this 
young  civilian,  which  had  a  similar  effect  on  this  court, 
as  it  threw  all  the  wisdom  and  legal  knowledge  of  the 
five  judges,  back  on  the  forensick  mast  of  their  minds  ; 
so  that  for  a  short  season,  all  was  confusion  aloft,  in  the 
legal  sails  and  running  rigging  of  the  judges'  minds  : 
all  was  uproar  and  perplexity,  at  this  unexpected  in- 
terference of  this  young  lawyer — which  gave  an  un- 
precedented crisis  to  the  trial.  But  as  good  fortune 
would  have  it,  this  sudden  legal  squall  soon  passed 
away  :  and  when  the  flying  sails  of  the  judges'  minds 
had  been  taken  in,  and  the  running  rigging  of  their 
understanding  all  i^ove  in  their  proper  blocks,  and  be- 
laid to  the  pins  and  Meets  of  legal  prudence,  on  deck; 
and  the  forensick  ship  once  more  righted ;  so  that  the 
judges'  minds  became  in  a  state  of  sanity — it  came  to 


324  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

pass,  that  after  the  five  judges  had  run  out  several 
fathoms  of  desultorious  law  arguments,  on  the  serious 
effects  which  this  unexpected  embargo,  or  rather  levy, 
that  this  youth  had  laid  on  the  illegal  proceedings  of 
the  court,  in  his  so  suddenly  arresting  the  condign  sen- 
tence of  the  law,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  :  that 
they  saw  that  the  crisis  demanded  decision,  energy  and 
activity  on  their  part,  in  order  to  fully  sustain  the  legal 
character  of  this  high  court  of  chancery.  They  also 
saw  it  was  imperiously  necessary,  that  some  healing 
balm,  soothing  specific,  and  law  restorative,  in  some 
way  or  other,  and  that  too,  by  the  best  skill,  of  the  most 
experienced  law  physicians,  should  be  immediately 
applied;  so  as  to  heal  the  wounds,  and  cover  the  illegal 
sores  on  the  body  of  this  court.  When  it  soon  came 
to  pass,  that  the  minds  of  the  five  judges  came  to  this 
wise  point,  on  the  law  compass,  to  wit ;  that  should 
this  court  entirely  pass  over,  or  reject  the  humble  and 
philanthropic  prayer  of  this  young  forensick  gentleman, 
in  the  behalf  of  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  then  we 
may  augur  in  that  case,  that  the  whole  world  of  com- 
mon sense,  would  be  fully  justified  hereafter,  in  view- 
ing this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  who  have  instituted 
this  trial,  in  search  of  what  has  become  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  after  it  was  crucified,  have  acted  with  the  most 
strange  and  unprecedented  and  unjustifiable  partiality, 
on  the  side  of  the  Roman  guards,  [or,  in  undisguised 
phraseology,  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  and  Deists, 
against  the  truth  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God :] 
against  the  eleven  prisoners,  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
called  the  disciples  of  Christ  :  who,  said,  the  chief 
judge  to  his  four  learned  associates  and  coadjutors  on 
this  trial,  we  all  well  know,  are  the  only  positive  [if 
the  nature  of  the  case  will  justify  the  assertion,]  and 
substantial  witnesses,  against  the  prisoners  robbing  the 
sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  And  as  the 
chief  judge's  mind  became  more  calm  and  sane,  he  said, 
I  have  no  doubt  in  my  mind,  nor  do  I  experience  the 
least  degree  of  hesitancy,  to  communicate  the  same  to 
you  in  confidence,  while  we  are  in  this  private  hall  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  325 

legal  deliberation,  that  you  all  clearly  see  with  myself, 
that  this  is  the  only  converging  point,  on  which  the 
whole  colossean  superstructure  of  the  gospel  rests. 
Yes,  my  learned  friends,  we  clearly  perceive,  that 
after  all  the  endless  disputations  among  men,  whether 
they  are  Jews,  Deists,  Turks,  Heathen,  or  Christians, 
the  pugnacious  controversy,  by  the  mathematical  rules 
and  simple  principles  of  common  sense,  is  suspended  on 
this  point  of  the  argument ;  that  is,  if  Christ  went  out 
of  the  sepulchre,  after  he  was  crucified  and  his  body 
savagely  butchered  to  death  on  a  Roman  cross — and 
he,  by  some  supernatural  or  divine  power,  which  was 
latent  in  himself,  rose  from  the  dead,  it  then  requires 
neither  the  strength  of  the  prostrating  arguments  of  a 
Grecian  orator,  nor  the  harmonious  suavity  and  per- 
suasive eloquence  of  a  noted  latin  orator,  to  prove  either 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  or  the  distressing  [to  them  who 
belong  to  the  philosophical  and  scoffing  schools,]  doc- 
trine of  the  soul's  immortality.  So  that  we  this  day 
clearly  see,  that  if  this  young  civilian  should  be  suc- 
cessful, in  proving  the  innocency  of  the  eleven  prison- 
ers at  the  bar,  there  will  need  no  other  argument  to 
prove  the  truth  of  the  christian  religion,  far  above  the 
claims  of  any  system  of  mythology  or  theology,  in  the 
whole  world. 

When  the  chief  judge  proceeded  thus,  by  continuing 
his  forensick  parable  to  his  four  associate  judges,  and 
said :  My  legal  friends,  I  experience  in  my  mind  a  de- 
sire, which  causes  a  reaction  on  my  conscience,  so  that 
to  be  honest  to  my  own  heart,  for  once  then,  the  philo- 
sophical desire  of  my  mind  is  this :  that  1  could  at  this 
moment  most  devoutly  pray  to  our  national  gods,  that 
in  their  wisdom  and  benign  goodness  towards  us,  when 
we  were  in  the  plenary  possession  of  the  full  cup  of  all 
mundane  bliss,  that  they  had  never  suffered  that  trouble- 
some and  mysterious  being  called  Christ,  with  his 
alarming  and  soul-distressing  doctrine  of  the  soul's  im- 
mortality and  mankind's  personal  accountability  to  him, 
for  their  words  and  actions — whether  they  be  good  or 
bad:  Yes,  my  friends,  I  most  ardently  wish,  and  could 

2e 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 

devoutly  pray,  that  those  amiable  ladies,  Reason  and 
Philosophy,  had  sent  down  their  heated  thunder-bolts, 
and  red  lightning,  with  their  roaring  artillery  issuing 
fire  and  smoke,  and  pouring  forth  the  double-headed 
shot  of  their  anathema  maranatha,  accompanied  with 
the  furious  blasts  and  prostrating  whirl-winds,  from 
those  dense  and  sombre  clouds,  which  are  at  times  seen 
in  rather  an  angry  mood,  rolling  themselves  under  the 
flying  chariots  of  Reason  and  Philosophy — when  the 
two  amiable  ladies  took  their  winter  tour,  from  the  icy 
regions  of  this  mundane  state,  up  to  the  aerial  regions, 
where  carnal  joys  and  tangible  pleasures,  constitute 
the  ambient  air  of  that  buoyant  atmosphere.  Yes,  my 
learned  coadjutors  in  this  troublesome  and  perplexing 
suit,  I  could  heartily  have  wished,  that  the  wise  ladies* 
vituperating  breath,  and  the  more  alarming  intonations 
of  their  imperative  voice,  had  ordered  this  young  theo- 
logian off,  to  some  inter-mundane  location,  where  tangi- 
ble and  intelligent  beings  have  no  resting  place ;  and 
then  this  conscience-trouhling  character,  might  have 
been  safely  transported,  and  firmly  fixed,  from  coming 
to  disturb  our  courts  of  civil  law,  and  agitating  the 
calm  elements  of  jurisprudence,  and  other  municipal 
ventilations  of  justice,  in  our  towns  and  cities  ;  by 
laying  his  conscience-alarming  embargo  on  all  our 
physical  passions,  and  mundane  joys,  or  in  any  other 
way  of  spreading  a  spirit  of  effervescence  throughout  the 
empire;  so  very  repulsive  to  the  reason  of  civilians, 
and  the  deep  philosophy  of  the  human  mind;  as  you,  my 
forensick  brethren,  see  is  the  unfelicitous  case  with  us, 
by  these  prisoners  being  suffered  to  run  at  large  through 
the  Roman  empire,  greatly  undulating  the  fears  of  the 
plebeian  orders  of  society,  about  an  hereafter. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  learned  judges  having 
spent  about  two  hours  in  their  Jegal  disquisition  be- 
tween themselves,  on  this  (to  them,)  very  unexpected 
crisis,  of  this  trial,  that  they  became  all  harmo- 
nious in  their  views,  and  unanimous  in  their  legal 
opinion,  as  to  the  best  scheme  or  plan,  for  them  and  the 


I 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  327 

court  to  pursue  ;  which  would  be,  to  grant  the  prayer 
of  this  young  civilian. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  this  decision  in  the  minds 
of  the  five  judges,  that  the  chief  judge  for  a  few 
moments,  further  continued  his  forensick  parable — and 
raising  a  little  the  intonation  of  his  legal  voice,  above 
its  ordinary  key,  he  thus  said,  or  rather  addressed  his 
associate  judges  :  Your  learned  honours,  I  make  no 
doubt,  clearly  see  with  me,  that  this  wary  youngster 
has  caught  us  old  civilians,  in  the  purlieu  of  his  foren- 
sick guile,  by  his  insidious  net :  the  ingenious  meshes 
thereof,  he  has  made,  I  perceive,  of  the  thread  and 
twine  of  his  vaunting  Roman  justice  and  impartiality. 
The  ostentatious  philanthropy  and  voluntary  humility, 
by  which  this  insidious  youth  has  caught  us  old  birds, 
who  have  been  so  long  roosting  on  the  civick  altars  of 
our  country,  with  his  moral  and  philanthropic  chaff,  by 
which  your  learned  honours  may  see,  w^ith  half  the 
vision  of  a  Roman  civilian,  that  he  has  both  literally 
and  legally,  as  it  were,  transfixed  us  to  the  civick  altars 
of  truth,  justice  and  mercy.  So  that  if  the  court  re- 
fuses to  grant  his  prayer,  then  the  high  fame  and 
universal  credit  of  this  court  of  chancery,  will  be,  in 
consequence  of  our  refusal,  universally  depreciated  in 
the  broad  eye  of  the  world.  And  your  learned  honours 
who  act  with  me  on  this  mysterious  trial,  will  no  doubt 
experience  it  to  be  our  imperative  duty,  in  order  to  get 
through  the  meshes  of  his  insidious  net,  in  the  best  way 
we  can — and  the  course  he  has  left  us  to  steer,  while 
sailing  through  the  legal  sea,  which  this  youngster  has 
so  ingeniously  decoyed  us  into,  by  the  rushing  of  the 
perennial  waters — therefore,  in  order  to  keep  our  court 
from  foundering  its  fame  and  antecedent  glory,  on 
either  the  sunken  rocks,  sand  bars,  and  chevaux-de- 
frise,  that  this  wary  civilian  has  placed  in  the  channel 
of  our  legal  waters,  it  remains  our  duty,  from  the  im- 
perious law  of  sheer  necessity,  as  our  dernier  effort,  to 
save  the  character  of  this  court,  to  grant  this  young 
lawyer  his  prayer,  by  letting  him  cross-examine  the 


328  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

guards,  To  this  prudent  and  wise  conclusion,  all  his  as- 
sociate judges  did  cordially  agree. 

The  report  of  the  Judges,  to  the  court  of  Areopagus,  on  the 
prayer  of  the  young  lawyer. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  by  the  ninth-hour,  the 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  both  of  the  Jewish  and  Deistical 
schools,  had  returned  into  court,  with  ladies  Reason 
and  Philosophy,  with  all  the  plebeian  spectators.  When 
the  officer  of  the  court  called  silence ;  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  judges  presented  themselves  at  the  bar  of 
the  court ;  when  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  made  the 
following  short  communication  :  May  it  please  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ,  that  in  order  to  make  it  manifest  to  the 
whole  world  of  mankind,  that  this  high  court  of  chan- 
cery, does  this  day  experience  the  most  ardent  desire 
to  retain  all  its  former  character,  of  important  equity 
and  legal  justice,  to  all  orders  and  classes  of  men;  and 
likewise,  to  fully  sustain  the  altitude  of  all  the  legal  and 
wise  decisions,  which  have,  like  the  helm  and  polar  star 
to  the  mariner,  antecedent  to  this  trial,  marked  the 
course,  and  guided  the  acts  and  legal  decisions,  in  all 
cases  of  litigation  and  crime,  that  heretofore  have  been 
brought  by  the  arm  of  the  law,  and  the  agency  of  its 
officers,  to  the  bar  of  this  court ;  even  to  such  a  degree 
of  impartiality,  that  the  most  obscure  persons  in  society, 
may  experience  that  an  equal  share  of  justice,  is  both 
shown  and  fully  administered  to  them — as  well  as  the 
wise,  powerful,  rich  and  influential  orders  of  Roman 
citizens.  Therefore,  I  inform  this  court,  this  afternoon, 
that  from  this  calm  and  dispassionate  view,  which  I  and 
my  learned  coadjutors,  the  four  judges,  who  are  asso- 
ciated with  me  on  this  mysterious  trial,  which  has 
taken  this  sudden  and  unexpected  turn,  and  also  pro- 
crastinated the  regular,  and  what  we  in  our  associated 
law  knowledge,  conceived  to  be  the  legal  proceedings 
of  this  court,  in  the  trial  of  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  charged  with  the  horrid  and  seditious  crime  of 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  329 

stealing  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre. Therefore,  from  a  deep  conviction  of  our  minds; 
that  although  elevated  on  the  bench  of  civil,  martial, 
and  even  ecclesiastical  law,  to  be  the  judges  of  the 
words  and  acts  of  our  fellow  men — yet,  please  this  wise 
and  intelligent  court,  we  are  not  so  highly  elevated 
above  our  fellow  men,  as  to  be  entirely  insensible,  that 
our  forensick  judgment  is,  at  times,  a  little  out  of  the 
way,  and  have  a  few  grains  of  imperfection,  in  our  view 
of  a  malefactor's  guilt :  for  we  have  not  the  omniscience 
of  the  holy  ones,  to  see  at  all  times  into  the  hearts  of 
witnesses — who  testify  against  the  guilt  of  a  prison- 
er, which  the  arm  of  the  law  presents  to  the  bar  of  our 
courts  for  adjudication.  Therefore,  we  inform  the 
court,  that  we  this  day  bow  in  the  most  obsequious 
homage,  to  the  civick  altars  of  impartial  justice,  to  all 
men ;  and  therefore  do  recommend  to  this  court,  to  in- ' 
dulge  the  ardent  desires,  and  grant  the  humble  prayer 
of  this  young  stranger ;  who,  according  to  the  creden- 
tials he  has  brought  with  him,  and  presented  last  even- 
ing at  the  bar  of  this  court,  as  a  full  credited  civilian 
of  Roman  law — therefore,  I  move  the  court,  that  his 
request  to  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  be  forth- 
with fully  complied  with ;  and  that  he  shall  have  the 
legal  privilege  to  cross-examine  the  guard  who  stood 
watch  over  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  on  that  same 
night  it  was  lost  out  of  the  sepulchre.  And  I  further 
move,  that  the  most  free  use  of  all  the  legal  privileges, 
forensick  capabilities,  and  law  apparatus  of  this  court, 
may  be  placed  at  his  full  command :  in  order,  if  the 
young  gentleman  has  within  the  purlieu  of  his  youthful 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  that  singular  sagacity  to  rec- 
tify and  ventilate  the  foul  air,  and  purify  the  muddy 
waters,  which  the  obreptitious  ravages  of  time  have  in- 
truduced  into  the  once  pure  elements  of  this  court — 
we,  as  a  court  in  that  case,  shall  be  under  an  infinite 
obligation  to  this  young  civilian,  for  his  maiden  plea 
at  this  profound  bar.  For  we,  who  have  been  the 
senior  judges  of  this  court  for  many  years,  experience 
that  Roman  nobleness  of  soul,  which  would  give  to  the 
2e=^ 


330  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

gentleman  plenty  of  forensick  sea-room,  to  sail  his 
argumentative  ship  in,  with  flying  colours — with  his 
royals  and  sky-capers  and  studding-sails  set  under  a  full 
ratiocinating  breeze  ;  in  order  that  this  court  may  have 
a  full  display  of  his  legal  skill,  and  a  clear  view  of  the 
whole  arcanum  of  his  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge — 
flying  off  in  every  direction,  as  the  luminous  scintilla- 
tions of  his  youthful  understanding  before  this  ancient 
bar. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  wise  decision  from  the 
five  judges  on  the  bench,  caused  the  countenances  of 
the  poor  plebeian  spectators,  to  flush  with  a  slight 
radiance  of  joy  ;  but  the  judges'  declaration  rather  pro- 
duced an  unfelicitous  re-aciion  on  the  gentlemen  and 
ladies  of  patrician  blood  and  birth;  especially,  those 
who  were  of  Jewish  and  Deistical  education  :  and  not 
only  so,  but  the  opinions  of  the  judges  made  a  visible 
impression  on  Reason  and  Philosophy,  who  were  seen 
at  intervals,  if  we  might  judge  from  the  index  of  their 
pale  countenances,  as  the  once  rosy  bloom  thereof 
would  suddenly  give  place  to  the  almost  cadaverous 
shades  of  a  dying  person  lying  in  state,  in  the  drawing 


A  thovght  by  the  amanuensis  of  the  report  of  this  trial.  The 
suddenness  and  impetuosity  of  the  judges'  sensibilities, 
agitated  by  the  flowing  and  ebbing  blast  of  hope  and  fear, 
rising  at  times  like  a  whirlwind,  from  the  surcharged  cloud 
of  their  passions,  which  appeared  like  a  water-spout  ready  to 
burst ;  which  would  sweep  in  its  momentary  fury,  all  the 
antecedent  glory  from  this  highly  famed  court  of  Areopagus ; 
and  causing  in  its  deleterious  wake,  ruin  and  wide  spread  de- 
vastation all  around,  on  all  its  illustrious  deeds  of  ancient 
date.  Therefore,  ungodly  sinner,  the  foregoing  is  but  a  very 
faint  idea  of  the  chagrin,  agitation,  and  wild  uproar  of  the 
minds  and  passions  of  both  Jews  and  Deists,  should  this  trial 
prove,  that  Christ  indeed  rose  from  the  dead.  Then  wo,  wo, 
to  all  the  scoflers  at  Christ  and  his  gospel !  Therefore,  my 
scoffing  shipmates,  keep  a  bright  look-out;  if  so  be  that 
Christ  did  rise  from  the  dead,  your  eternal  ruin  is,  in  itself 
inevitable,  except  you  repent ! 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  331 

room  of  the  king  of  terrors  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  ex- 
hibiting a  strong  symmetry  of  features  in  the  finer 
lineaments  of  their  countenances,  to  their  great  grand 
sire  Doctor  Cain.  When  the  chief  judge  had  commu- 
nicated the  views  of  himself  and  his  coadjutors  in  this 
trial  to  the  court,  he  sat  down  for  a  few  moments. 

When  the  chief  judge  rose  and  informed  the  court, 
that  in  consequence  of  this  sudden  and  very  unexpect- 
ed crisis,  in  the  trial  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  called 
the  disciples  of  Christ,  the  court  stood  adjourned  to 
meet  in  this  place  the  next  morning. 


332 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  twenty -second  day  of  the  trials  of  the  robbery  of  the 
sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  grand  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  met  at  rather  an  early  hour  of  the  twenty- 
second  day ;  and  after  the  usual  formalities  of  the  court 
were  all  gone  through,  and  a  solemn  silence  pervaded 
the  same,  his  learned  honour,  the  chief  judge,  rose  and 
informed  the  court,  that  he  had  with  the  counsel  and 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  -with  a  sword  in  one  hand,  and  his  scales  in  the 
other,  weighing  the  guai-ds'  evidence. 

No.  2.  Mercy  pleading  the  cause  of  innocence. 

No.  3.  Truth  brings  the  false  witness  of  the  guards  to  light,  when  tUey  ai-e 
cross-examined. 

No.  4.  The  chief  judge  delivering  the  cause  into  the  hands  of  this  youi^ 
lawyer. 

No.  5.  Carnal  Reason  no  longer  points  the  finger  of  scorn  at  Christ  and 
his  cross;  and  vain  Philosophy  has  laid  down  her  telescope,  in  consequence 
of  a  lowering  cloud  almost  obsourating  the  Sun  in  the  empyrean  of  the  ag« 
of  Reason. 

No.  6.  The  young  lawyer  cross-examining  the  guards. 

No.  7.  The  eleven  disciples  in  the  old  criminal's  box. 

No.  8.  The  Jewish  and  Deistical  gentlemen  and  ladies,  in  the  great  gal- 
lery, rather  in  a  solemn  mood,  in  consequence  of  the  court's  granting  the 
young  lawyer  the  privilege  to  cross-examine  the  Roman  guards. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  333 

advice  of  their  learned  honours,  with  whom  he  had  the 
most  inexpressible  pleasure  co-ordinately  to  co-operate, 
in  this  very  alarming  crisis  of  this  mysterious  cause, 
which  is  now  pending  at  the  bar.  My  object  in  rising, 
is  to  give  legal  notice  to  all  the  parties  and  counsellors 
present,  that  belong  to  or  have  any  share  of  interest  in 
the  case  now  pending  at  the  bar,  that  I  do  this  morn- 
ing officially  publish  from  this  bar,  that  I  shall  imme- 
diately place  this  court,  with  all  its  facilities  and  capa- 
bilities, with  the  legal  and  obsequious  attendance  of  its 
officers,  books  and  other  papers  and  records,  into  the 
hand  of  the  young  barrister,  who  is  in  waiting  before 
the  bar  :  who,  may  it  please  this  high  court  of  chancery, 
appears  to  have  caught  his  brother's  mantle,  like  the 
fable  I  have  read  of  in  some  of  the  old  books  of  an 
ancient  sage — or  what  we  in  Roman  mythology  would 
call  a  magician  flying  in  a  chariot  of  fire  unto  the 
empyrean  regions,  where  the  holy  ones  are  said  to  have 
their  abode  ;  and  as  he  triumphantly  rose,  he  let  fall 
his  •  auguring  robe  to  this  mundane  state,  when  his 
freed-man  took  it  up,  and  became  almost  as  great  a 
magician  as  his  old  master.  Just  so  with  our  young 
civilian;  for  he  really  appears  to  have  seized  the foren- 
sick  garment,  and  caught  the  fire,  and  philanthropic 
zeal  of  his  elder  brother,  who  this  court  may  well  re- 
member, at  the  commencement  of  this  mysterious  trial, 
gave  his  argumentative  labour  of  love,  w^ithout  money 
or  price,  to  plead  and  advocate  the  almost  hopeless 
cause  of  the  deceased  person,  (of  that  mysterious  being) 
who  is  called  Christ.  Therefore,  since  our  young  friend 
has  so  ardently  elicited  to  be  permitted  by  this  court, 
clothed  in  the  falling  mantle  of  his  elder  brother,  and 
fired  with  his  youthful  zeal  for  the  cause  and  interest 
of  the  eleven  malefactors  before  the  bar,  I  fondly  hope 
also,  from  the  coindication  which  the  young  ladies  of 
his  native  province  saw  of  his  future  greatness,  when 
they  made  him  a  donative  of  the  fine  sash,  wherewith 
he  is  now  girted  before  the  bar ;  and  the  court  is  no 
doubt  sensible,  that  even  we  aged  judges  and  civilians, 
have  still  at  times  a  predilection  to  pay  some  deference 


334  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

to  the  wisdom  and  opinions  of  the  ladies ;  so  that  their 
forecasting  views  may  be  felicitously  associated  with 
our  anxious  desires,  of  beholding  those  early  signs  by 
his  maiden  plea,  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  ripening  into 
summer  fruit,  in  order  that  he  may  attain  the  full  alti- 
tude of  legal  success,  which  his  elder  brother  had  in 
clearing  the  character  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ; 
so  that  he  may  obtain  for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  an 
honourable  discharge,  if  in  law  and  fact  they  are  inno- 
cent of  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ,  in  order,  that  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest 
may  experience  a  superior  degree  of  pleasure,  in  pluck- 
ing a  few  of  his  prodromas  or  early  ripe  figs,  from  oflf 
his  forensick  fig-tree,  which  we  fondly  hope  he  will 
place  in  a  golden  casket,  in  full  view  of  the  whole  court. 

And  now,  please  the  court,  having  discharged  this 
pleasing  part  of  my  official  duty,  I  shall,  with  the  most 
plenary  altitude  of  legal  pleasure,  as  1  stand  before  the 
altars  and  Magna  Charta  of  my  country,  and  sovereign 
Tiberius,  resign  this  court  into  the  hands  of  our  young 
civilian,  to  proceed  in  his  own  way  to  cross-examine 
the  Roman  guards,  and  justify,  as  I  before  said,  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  if  they  are  innocent :  when  the 
judge  sat  down  and  said  no  more. 

[The  young  barrister  returns  his  high  consideration 
to  his  learnfid  honour  the  chief  judge,  for  his  court 
politeness.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  his  honour  the  chief  judge 
had  resumed  his  seat  on  the  bench,  that  the  young  ad- 
vocate for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  rose  [and  with  his 
flowing  sash,  sparkling  with  the  gems  of  the  east,  with 
which  the  young  ladies  of  his  country  had  richly  adorn- 
ed it,]  and  made  a  very  polite  inclination  of  his  person 
to  the  judges  and  the  whole  court,  for  its  legal  indul- 
gence towards  him;  and  also,  for  its  act  of  lenity  to- 
wards the  prisoners  at  the  bar — and  said,  that  he  should 
now  most  devoutly  pray  to  the  great  ruler  of  the 
empyrean  regions,  who  presides  over  the  altars  of  justice, 
truth  and  mercy,  that  he  might  benignly  and  gracious- 
ly enable  him,  to  fulfill  those  precocious  signs  the  ladies 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  335 

saw  of  his  future  success,  at  the  bar  of  his  country ; 
which  the  keen  opticks  of  his  venerable  father,  has  con- 
verged on  ;  and  in  his  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the 
stamina  of  the  law,  had  the  condescending  goodness 
to  notice.  And  my  admiration  is  the  more  excited,  at 
the  judge's  philanthropic  grace  toward  me,  when  I  re- 
flect on  my  inexperience,  for  the  want  of  practice  at 
the  bars  of  our  courts  ;  nevertheless,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  I  do  experience  a  humble  and  distant 
hope,  that  before  this  trial  shall  come  to  its  final  issue, 
that  his  learned  honour  the  chief  judge,  shall  have  his 
alfactory  nerves  pleased,  with  the  odorous  perfume 
from  the  violet  of  our  maiden  plea ;  and  that  the  deli- 
cate palate  of  the  judge's  refined  sensibility,  shall  be 
satisfied  to  a  degree  of  satiety,  in  his,  obsequiously 
stretching  forth  his  hand,  in  the  felicitous  imitation  of 
a  certain  lady,  in  the  drawing-room  of  a  mundane 
paradise,  and  plucking  our  summer  fruit,  or  please 
your  learned  honours,  a  few  of  those  prodromas,  from 
off  our  young  fig-tree. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  after  this  small  display  of 
legal  civility,  between  the  chief  judge  and  the  lawyer, 
on  his  maiden  plea,  were  gone  through,  that  this  young 
counsellor,  having  previously  taken  from  the  high 
sheriff's  ofl^ce  a  mandamus  fram  the  emperor's  bench, 
(or  what,  in  our  courts,  is  called  a  writ  of  caption,  or 
bench  warrant,)  for  the  Roman  guards :  when  the 
marshal  brought  them  into  court,  headed  by  the  centu- 
rion, who  had  the  charge  of  the  temple.  When  this 
young  advocate  rose  with  a  paper  in  his  hand,  con- 
taining the  names  of  four  quaternions — that  is,  sixteen 
Roman  guards,  who  stood  watch  at  the  sepulchre,  on 
the  very  night  it  was  reported  to  have  been  robbed — 
or  this  very  singular  and  strange  surreption  had  been 
made,  on  the  silent  repose  of  the  dead,  by  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar.  This  young  counsellor  then  called  the 
guards,  by  the  proper  officer  of  the  court,  each  man  by 
his  proper  name ;  [and  if  the  stenographer  were  near 
enough,  and  his  vision  did  not  wonderfully  deceive  him, 
he  read  the  appellative  thus:  they  are  all  false  witness- 


336  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

es,]  one  by  one,  up  to  the  bar ;  and  then  had  them  all 
affirmed,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  court. 

The  form  of  the  affirmation  which  this  counsellor  adminis- 
tered to  the  royal  guards. 

Sir,  you  are  a  Roman  soldier  by  profession,  and  did, 
in  your  individuate  character,  constitute  one  of  the 
watch,  who  were,  by  the  orders  of  Pontius  Pilate,  the 
Roman  governor  of  Judea  and  Jerusalem,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  obtain- 
ed from  the  centurion,  who  had  the  charge  of  the 
temple,  who  by  the  authority  and  military  agency  of 
the  centurion,  did  truly  constitute  one  of  the  sentries 
at  the  sepulchre,  after  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  had 
been  taken  down  from  the  cross,  by  the  special  order 
of  Pilate — presented  to  your  officer,  and  was  faithfully 
and  truly  conveyed  to  the  garden,  and  placed  in  a  new 
sepulchre,  which  had  been  but  very  recently  excavated 
out  of  a  rock :  and  that  you  saw  his  body  lie  in  the 
aforesaid  described  sepulchre,  with  the  five  wounds  he 
had  received  on  the  cross,  on  the  day  he  was  crucified. 
And,  sir,  you  did  receive  the  strictest  and  most  impe- 
rative charge  to  watch,  guard,  and  safely  keep  secure, 
the  aforesaid  crucified  body,  in  his  sepulchre,  until  the 
third  day  had  passed  over  his  lifeless  and  deteriorating 
remains.  To  which  form  of  words  the  guards,  each  one 
for  himself,  answered  the  young  attorney  in  the  affir- 
mative— that  they  were  the  very  identical  persons. 

Therefore  you  do  all  collectively,  and  each  one  of 
you  in  particular,  say,  that  these  prisoners,  who  are 
now  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  chained  in  the  crimi- 
nal's box,  are  the  very  persons  that  came  by  night,  and 
stole  the  very  self  same  body  of  Christ,  that  you  saw 
crucified  on  a  Roman  cross,  out  of  the  sepulchre,  while 
you  sixteen  Roman  guards,  were  all  at  one  and  the 
same  time  fast  asleep. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  this  solemn  affirma- 
tion had  been,  by  the  young  lawyer,  administered  to 
the  whole  of  the  guards,  that  he  said  to  the  watch, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  337 

thaVs  all  very  good,  and  I  thank  you,  citizens  of  the 
guards,  for  the  minuteness  and  the  particularization  of 
all  your  replies  to  my  legal  interrogations.  And  now, 
citizens  guards,  you  do  all  personally  and  collectively, 
most  truly  and  solemnly  declare  and  affirm,  before  the 
solemn  bar  of  this  court,  in  the  presence  of  our  judges, 
and  the  law  agents  that  this  day  doth  form  and  consti- 
tute all  the  legal  and  lawful  authorities,  of  this  high 
court  of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre;  and  also,  as  in  the  presence 
of  the  gods  of  the  Roman  nation  and  army,  that  the 
solemn  testimony  and  witness  that  you  have  this  day 
given  in  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  is  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  :  Amen — so  may  the 
gods  of  our  national  mythology  help  us. 

The  foregoing  form  of  affirmation  being  duly  admin- 
istered by  the  young  civilian,  through  the  legal  officer 
of  the  court,  to  the  whole  of  the  sixteen  guards,  they 
were,  by  the  young  attorney,  all  desired  to  sit  down, 
till  they  should  be  further  called  for. 

[Here  folio weth  the  cross-examination  of  the  royal 
guards,  or  the  emersion  of  Christ,  the  bright  and  morn- 
ing star  and  Sun  of  righteousness,  from  under  the  dense 
and  dark  clouds  of  carnal  Reason  and  vain  Philosophy, 
and  Jewish  unbelief.'] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  young  lawyer  had 
taken  his  notes  of  the  soldiers'  evidence,  that  he  com- 
menced the  cross-examination  of  the  guards'  testimony, 
by  putting  the  following  queries  to  them:  Pray,  citizens 
of  the  watch,  be  so  kind  as  to  inform  their  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
and  also  for  the  information  and  satisfaction  of  all  the 
spectators  in  court,  but  especially  the  gentlemen  and 
ladies  of  Jewish  education,  in  the  great  gallery ;  and 
also  for  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  amiable  ladies 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  in  the  small  gallery,  on  the 
right  of  this  court ;  to  wit—Whether  you,  as  soldiers, 
had  been  overcharged  with  duty,  previous  to  your 
being  placed  on  guard  by  the  Roman  officer,  over  the 
sepulchre,  that  contained  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 

2f 


338  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

on  the  evening  before  the  robbery  of  the  same  ?  The 
reason,  Roman  soldiers,  ^vhy  I  ask  you  these  rife 
questions,  is,  because  I  wish  to  ascertain,  for  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  this  court,  whether  any  one  of  you,  or  all 
of  you,  had  recently  encountered  more  than  an  ordinary 
share  of  labour,  in  your  profession  of  arms :  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  turmoil  of  long  and  forced  marches, 
or  the  more  fatiguing  labour  in  the  field  of  battle;  either 
pursuing  your  enemies,  or  else  perhaps,  by  being  over- 
charged with  superior  numbers,  by  your  foes,  you  were 
under  the  imperious  necessity  of  flying  before  them : 
or  w^hether,  citizens  of  the  guards,  you  were  from  any 
other  physical,  civil  or  military  cause,  or  effect  what- 
soever, brought  under  a  state  of  lassitude.  And  I  wish 
to  know  from  you  citizens  soldiers,  for  the  still  further 
and  entire  satisfaction  of  this  court,  whether  any  one 
of  those  sudden  turns  and  emergencies,  which  very 
often  arise  out  of  a  military  life,  and  the  professions  of 
arms,  so  that  if  any  one  of  you  have  been  in  any  way 
whatsoever,  deprived  of  your  usual  hours  of  natural 
rest ;  or  whether,  soldiers  of  the  guards,  any  of  you 
have  through  camp  fevers,  or  any  other  disease,  which 
I  know  in  your  profession  is  oftentimes  too  prevalent 
in  military  life :  or  in  a  word,  citizens  of  the  watch — 
has  any  other,  either  physical  or  mental  distress,  caus- 
ed you,  in  the  least  degree  to  have  experienced  a  more 
than  ordinary  state  of  weariness,  either  of  body  or 
mind?  When  this  young  lawyer  paused,  and  gave  the 
guards  time  to  reply. 

The  guards'  answer  to  the  court. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  guards  rose,  and  to  a 
man  gave  the  following  reply:  May  it  please  your  learn- 
ed honour,  and  through  you  as  a  perennial  channel  of 
communication,  we  inform  the  whole  world  of  man- 
kind, that  we  have  neither  been  on  the  battle  ground, 
nor  under  the  turmoil  of  forced  marches ;  neither  have 
we  been  pursuing  nor  flying  from  the  face  of  our 
enemies ;  neither  were  we  in  our  physical  habits,  in  any 
degree  afflicted  by  camp  fevers,  or  any  other  disease 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  339 

that  brings  a  state  of  depression,  on  our  physical  or 
mental  energies  ;  neither  have  we,  in  any  otherwise, 
been  deprived  of  our  usual  hours  of  sleep;  neither  please 
your  honour,  have  we  been  for  some  months  past,  the 
unfelicitous  subjects  of  weariness.  No ;  may  it  please 
the  court,  our  condition,  since  we  arrived  in  the  land 
of  Judea,  has  been  for  the  most  part,  very  remarkable 
for  Roman  soldiers  to  be  favoured  with;  as  the  governor 
stationed  us  under  our  centurion,  as  the  guards  about 
the  temple.  But,  please  the  court,  being  changed  to 
the  different  towers  on  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  to 
the  old  castles  of  the  city,  every  three  months,  we  were 
removed  by  another  centurion  and  his  men,  who  came 
and  relieved  us,  and  took  charge  of  the  temple.  The 
object  of  the  Roman  governor,  no  doubt,  please  your 
learned  honour,  in  keeping  up  this  evolution,  from  one 
military  station  to  another  in  the  royal  army,  that 
were  placed  by  our  liege  sovereign  Tiberius  over  Judea, 
was  to  prevent  the  Roman  soldiery  from  forming  affian- 
ces, or  contracting  too  great  a  familiarity  with  the  in- 
habitants in  the  vicinity  of  our  locations.  So  that  upon 
the  whole,  our  duty  has  been  very  moderate.  This, 
please  the  court,  is  all  we  have  to  say  in  answer  to  the 
young  lawyer's  rife,  and  were  it  not  almost  irrelevant, 
we  would  say,  rather  severe  questions  he  has  put  to  us, 
relating  to  our  physical  and  military  conditions  as 
Roman  soldiers,  previous  to  the  robbing  of  the  sepul- 
chre of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ:  when  the  guards 
said  no  more. 

The  royal  guards  having  resumed  their  seats,  the 
young  advocate  for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  highly 
complimented  the  guards,  for  the  distinctiveness,  and 
in  a  small  degree,  the  perspicuity  of  their  answers  ;  and 
also,  their  rife,  moral  and  political  remarks,  before  the 
bar  of  this  court.  And  having  taken  his  notes  of  the 
same,  he  said  to  the  court :  No  doubt  their  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  all  the  forensick  gentlemen  of 
this  court,  with  myself,  do  by  this  time  experience,  that 
our  physical  powers  stand  in  need  of  some  refreshment; 
and  our  mental  faculties,  equally  demand  a  few  hours 


340  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

relaxation,  from  the  turmoil  of  court  business.  And 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  if  it  is 
the  pleasure  of  the  court  to  indulge  me,  I  wish  to  have 
a  little  time  to  examine  our  best  law  authorities,  on  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  guards'  testimony  :  there- 
fore, please  your  honours,  I  shall  humbly  and  obse- 
quiously pray  the  judges,  to  adjourn  the  court  till  to- 
morrow. Which  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to. 
So  the  chief  judge  adjourned  the  court,  to  meet  in  the 
same  place  the  next  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


341 


^    ll 

=ge^^       m 

■iiJiiiiiiiii^s^ 

-- 

^ 

pHiii^iiiiiiiii, liipiiiiiiiii 

im 

^mk 

m 

■Hliii 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 


And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  of  Areopagus 
met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  twenty-third  day.    And  when  the  superb  carriages 


Figure  No.  1.  Justice  with  a  drawn  sword  in  one  hand,  and  scales 
in  the  other,  weighing  the  guards'  evidence. 

No.  2.  Mercy,  pleading- the  cause  of  innocence. 

No.  3.  Truth  brings  the  false  witness  of  the  Roman  guards  to  light, 
as  they  are  cross-examined. 

No.  4.  The  five  judges  on  the  bench,  listening  with  great  attention 
to  the  young  lawyer's  artful  manner  of  cross-examining  the  guards. 

No.  5.  Tlie  sun  of  the  age  of  Reason,  almost  obscurated,  and  the 
two  amiable  ladies.  Reason  and  Ph[iosophy,  in  a  serious  mood, 
listening  to  the  guards'  answer  to  che  young  attorney. 

No.  6.  The  young  counsel/or  cross-examining  the  Roman  guards. 

No.  7.  The  eleven  disciples  in  the  old  criminal's  box,  at  the  bar. 

No.  8.  The  Jewish  and  Deistical  gentlemen  and  ladies  in  the  great 
gallery  ;  who  every  now  and  then  turn  pale,  at  hearing  the  guards 
convicting  themselves,  as  they  are  cross-examined. 

No.  9.  The  attorney  general's  chair  is  vacated  ;  he  being  highly 
displeased  with  the  court,  in  its  showing  any  further  e:^tension  of 
mercy  towards  the  prisoners,  after  it  had  obtained  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  against  them  :  so  he  would  not  stay  to  have  his  law  knowledge 
impugned,  and,  (as  he  thought)  insulted  by  the  ebulitions  of  a 
youngster,  spouting  his  maiden  plea,  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of 
chancery. 

2f* 


342  ClIllIST  REJECTED. 

had  arrived  before  the  portico  of  the  court,  having  a 
vast  number  of  Jewish  and  Deistical  young  ladies,  the 
young  gentlemen  of  honourable  blood  and  birth,  with 
much  etiquette  and  highly  finished  urbanity  of  man- 
ners, helped  the  ladies  to  alight,  and  politely  inducted 
them  to  the  scarlet  sofas,  that  had  been,  by  the 
munificence  of  the  government,  prepared  for  them.  As 
soon  as  this  squail -on  of  carriages  had  drove  off  from 
before  the  court,  the  plain  vehicle,  which  had  on  board 
the  amiable  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy,  arrived  also 
at  the  portico;  when  the  high  almoner  of  the  court 
stepped  up  to  the  door  of  their  carriage,  and  for  an  old 
gentleman,  displayed  a  high  share  of  philosophical 
etiquette,  and  handsomely  assisted  the  ladies  to  alight; 
and  then  inducted  them  into  the  small  gallery.  No 
sooner  were  the  ladies  all  accommodated,  than  the  five 
judges,  with  the  other  learned  gentlemen,  who  consti- 
tuted the  legal  elements  of  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  arrived  and  took  their  usual  locations  in  court; 
when  the  prisoners  were,  by  the  high  marshal  of  the 
empire,  and  the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  with  the  officers 
of  the  state's  prison,  brought  into  court,  chained  to- 
gether, and  placed  in  the  old  crimmal's  box  before  the 
bar;  when  the  judge  signified  to  the  clerk,  to  offer  up 
the  forensick  prayer  of  God  save  the  emperor  and  the 
commonwealth. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  law  holocaust 
had  been  oflTered  up,  and  silence  pervaded  the  court, 
that  the  young  barrister  rose,  and  very  leisurely  pro- 
ceeded with  the  cross-exaniination  of  the  royal  guards, 
who  had  charge  of  the  sepulchre,  when  it  was  reported 
to  have  been  robbed  by  the  prisoners  at  the  bar;  and 
said :  citizens  of  the  watch,  you  have  all  most  solemnly 
aflSrrned,  that  these  prisoners  before  you,  are  the  very 
identical  persons,  who  came  while  you  were  all  fast 
asleep,  and  stole  the  dead  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre  ?  Stop  for  one  moment,  valient  soldiers  of  the 
Roman  army ; — has  not  my  treacherous  audibility  in 
some  way  deceived  me?  In  the  name  of  the  great  ruler 
of  the  empyrean  world,  who  is  said  to  dwell  over  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  343 

altar   of  truth — Was    it  possible  for  sixteen  Roman 
soldiers  to  fall  asleep  at  one  and  the  same  time? 

When  the  guards  replied,  that  the  audibility  of  the 
young  lawyer  did  not  deceive  him,  that  they  were 
indeed,  all  fast  asleep,  w^hile  the  prisoners  at  the  bar 
went  off  with  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  Well, 
citizens  of  the  guards,  I  am  now  legally  satisfied,  that 
I  did  not  misunderstand  your  evidence  ;  therefore,  you 
justify  me  in  saying  in  my  notes,  which  I  now^  take  of 
your  testimony,  that  you  do  all,  royal  soldiers  of  the 
watch,  positively  say,  without  any  kind  of  hesitancy  or 
mental  reservation  whatsoever,  that  you  all  laid  fast 
asleep,  in  every  direction  on  the  ground,  about  the 
sepulchre,  while  the  prisoners  came,  and  first  broke 
open  the  royal  seal  of  state,  and  rolled  away  the  large 
stone,  without  coming  in  contact  with  your  lifeless 
bodies  ;  and  then  went,  you  say,  down  into  the  sepul- 
chre, and  took  out  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  and 
that  too,  citizens  soldiers,  without  the  stench  of  his 
cadaverous  remains,  being  in  the  least  degree  offensive 
to  your  alfactory  nerves — and  then  went  off  w ith  the 
same,  the  gods,  and  themselves  only  know  where  ? 
When  the  guards  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  said, 
that  the  prisoners  in  the  criminal's  box  before  them, 
were  the  very  men,  who  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ. 

A  note  by  the  Stenographer. — [Sensible  reader,  pause 
for  a  moment,  before  you  pass  the  verge  of  time,  and 
your  never-dying  souls  pass  the  straits  of  death  ;  and 
your  naked  ghost  launches  into  the  blue  sea  of  eternity  ! 
Now,  all  who  oppose  the  high  claims  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  his  gospel,  stand  on  a  rope  of  sand,  with  the  whole 
of  the  Jewish  nation !  yet,  it  is  on  this  sleepy  tale,  that 
millions  of  persons,  born  in  what  is  called  a  christian 
land,  consisting  of  Jews,  Deists,  Atheists,  and  Philoso- 
phers, do  reject  the  w^hole  flood  of  evidence,  which  is 
in  favour  of  the  truth  of  the  holy  gospel  of  the  Son  of 
God.  This  is  the  way  that  a  poor  christian  sailor 
reasons  on  the  evidence  of  the  Gospel.] 


344  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

When  the  young  lawyer  replied,  you  have  given  the 
court,  as  we]\  as  myself,  a  very  categorical  answer. 
And  indeed,  Roman  soldiers,  I  am  led  to  very  much 
admire  you,  for  the  clearness  and  remarkable  precision 
of  all  your  answers,  before  the  solemn  bar  of  this  court, 
in  the  chaste  synopsis  you  have  given  of  the  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre.  And  now,  be  so  good,  citizens  soldiers, 
since  you  have  identified  them  collectively,  as  in  a  mass, 
be  so  kind,  for  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  judges  and 
the  whole  court,  and  for  the  plenary  satisfaction  of  the 
Jewish  and  Philosophical  spectators  in  the  galleries,  to 
be  a  little  more  verbose  in  your  testimony  :  that  is, 
citizens  soldiers,  do  please  to  exercise  your  tongues  a 
little  more,  in  order  to  particularize,  either  their  words 
or  acts  ;  therefore,  do  any  of  you,  in  the  least  degree, 
recognize  the  features  of  those  prisoners  before  you,  so 
that  you  can,  in  any  one  or  more  instances,  be  able  to 
•  describe  some  one  or  more  particular  expression,  in  any 
of  the  lineaments  of  their  villainous  looking  countenan- 
ces, whereby,  citizens  guards,  you  can,  as  it  were, 
identify  the  particular  part,  that  either  of  these  prison- 
ers before  you  took  in  this  thieving  tragedy  ?  or  have 
you  any  knowledge,  of  any  other  coindication,  about 
their  persons  ?  such  for  instance,  as  the  height  of  their 
stature,  the  different  shades  of  their  complexion,  or  the 
provincial  intonation  of  their  voice ;  or  any  other  par- 
ticular cadence  of  their  words  ?  or  does  any  of  the 
watch  call  to  remembrance  at  this  time,  any  other  sign, 
either  in  their  physical  or  mental  natures,  which  can 
enable  you  to  satisfy  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
which  of  these  eleven  prisoners  in  the  criminal's  box 
before  you,  it  was,  that  first  lifted  the  felonious  and 
seditious  arm  of  rebellion,  and  broke  open  the  royal 
seal  at  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre  ?  or  can  you  re- 
collect which  of  them  it  was,  who  rolled  the  large  stone 
from  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre '?  or,  pray  citizens 
guards,  can  you  inform  this  court,  how  many  out  of 
these  eleven  prisoners,  went  down  into  the  sepulchre, 
and  first  took  the  winding  sheet  from  oflf  his  dead  body, 
and  the  bloody  napkin  from  oflf  his  head,  that  had  been 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  345 

punctured  in  a  thousand  places  with  a  crown  of  thorns; 
and  then  laid  them  both  carefully  aside,  as  it  was  said, 
to  be  found  after  the  body  was  missing  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre, the  next  day?  or,  can  you  inform  this  court, 
whether  these  prisoners  brought  a  vehicle  with  them 
to  the  grave,  to  put  the  dead  body  of  Christ  into,  when 
they  brought  it  up  out  of  the  sepulchre,  in  order  to 
convey  it  through  the  streets  of  the  holy  city  ?  There- 
fore, citizens  guards,  if  you  cannot  satisfy  the  court  on 
all  the  foregoing  particulars,  then  be  so  good  as  to  give 
the  court  a  partial  satisfaction,  on  at  least  some  one  or 
more  of  these  things  ;  as  it  certainly  would  give  a  deep 
shade  of  legal  veracity,  to  the  flood  of  categorical  tes- 
timony, you  have  already  given  in  at  the  bar  of  this 
court. 

The  royal  guards'  answer  to  the  young  lawyers 
queries,  which  he  put  to  them;  so  that  the  Roman 
soldiers,  just  like  our  modern  Jews,  Deists,  Atheists, 
Free-thinkers  and  carnal  Reasoners,  who  quarrel  with 
the  wisdom,  power,  grace  and  providence  of  Almighty 
God,  because  he  has  sent  them  life  and  immortality, 
through  his  only  begotten  Son.  Just  so  the  royal 
guards,  became  very  irascible  at  this  young  civilian, 
because  he  intended  ironically,  to  impugn  their  testi- 
mony, by  putting  these  rife  queries  to  them. 

When  the  young  counsellor  for  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  paused  to  give  the  Watch  time  to  reply  to  his 
legal  queries — the  captain  of  the  watch  rose,  in  the  be- 
half of  his  comrades,  and  said,  in  reply  to  the  last  request 
of  the  young  attorney,  turning  himself,  at  the  same 
time,  towards  the  bench — said.  May  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  court — I  with  the 
rest  of  my  comrades  in  arms,  who  were  entrusted  with 
the  body  of  Christ,  after  it  had  been  crucified,  do  per- 
ceive, please  your  honours,  it  to  be  the  latent  design  of 
this  young  stranger,  who,  with  his  fine  sash,  the  young 
ladies  of  his  country  gave  him,  which  has  operated  on 
his  mind  as  a  kind  of  forensick  magick,  and  has  brought 
him  to  this  court,  to  impugn  the  features,  and  the  very 
elements  of  the  solemn  affirmation  we  have  just  given, 


346  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

in  your  learned  honours'  presence,  and  in  the  presence 
of  our  gods.  Therefore,  as  citizens  and  soldiers,  we 
feel  our  military  honour  invaded,  that  our  Roman 
veracity  should  be  so  onerously  impugned,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  court ;  especially  the  ladies  and  gentlemen 
in  the  great  galleries — in  being,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  after  we  have  so  solemnly  affirmed  to 
all  the  matters  of  fact,  in  general — that  we  should  be 
by  this  young  barrister,  who  appears,  please  your 
honours,  if  you  ever  took  special  notice,  just  like 
a  large  bird,  commonly  called  a  peacock,  when  on  a 
mid-summer  morn  he  spreads  his  plumage  of  many 
colours,  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  in  a  soliloquy  says, 
that  the  Great  spirit,  that  made  the  aerial  inhabitants, 
has  not  so  fine  a  bird,  in  the  vast  empire  of  nature,  as 
himself  But  this  fine  dressed  bird,  they  say,  never 
looks  down  at  his  black  and  ugly  feet :  just  so  this 
young  gentleman  appears  with  his  fine  plumage,  which 
the  charity  of  the  ladies  has  bestowed  upon  him:  so 
that,  if  we  knew  his  family  and  plebeian  origin,  it  is 
very  likely  to  be  as  black  and  muddy  as  the  feet  of  the 
vain  bird  I  have  referred  to.  Therefore,  let  you  learn- 
ed honours  make  the  very  best  it  can,  of  the  prisoners' 
young  advocate; — he  seems  to  us,  to  be  merely  trying, 
as  he  has  promised  your  learned  honour  the  chief 
judge,  to  display,  under  the  plumage  wherewith  the 
ladies  have  adorned  his  new  and  fine  sash  of  many 
colours,  the  youthful  scintillation  of  the  mind  of  a 
young  collegian,  whose  knowledge  of  men  and  things, 
consists  merely  in  an  excursive  view,  hastily  taken 
from  an  oblique  glance,  over  the  countless  volumes  in 
the  library  of  the  college  where  he  was  educated;  so 
that  when  our  young  forensick  bird  of  passage,  presents 
himself  before  the  time  bleached  heads  of  the  venerable 
judges  on  the  bench,  he  fondly  wishes  to  appear  wiser 
than  all  the  law,  wisdom  and  knowledge,  of  this  famed 
court  of  Areopagus,  in  pompous  exhibition  of  his  for- 
ensick wit;  no  doubt,  please  your  honours,  with  a  latent 
view  of  obtaining  a  brisk  sale  hereafter,  in  some  of  our 
master  Tiberius'  courts,  for  some  of  those  delicious 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  ^47 

prodromas,  or  if  your  honours  please,  those  precocious 
summer  fruits,  he  so  ingeniously,  with  his  oblique  oral 
telegraph,  promised  your  honours  as  a  forensick  repast, 
when  you  so  graciously  indulged  him  with  the  privilege 
to  cross-examine  us,  who  were  the  guards  stationed  at 
the  sepulchre.  Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned 
honour,  if  I  and  my  comrades  are  not  out  of  order,  and  I 
hope  it  is  not  irrelevant  for  a  Roman  soldier  to  claim  the 
privilege  of  citizens  at  the  bar  of  this  court ; — 1  would 
then  take  the  gratuitous  liberty  to  say,  in  the  use  of  a 
soldier's  ruthless  language,  in  the  presence  of  your 
honours,  that  this  zealous  young  advocate  for  the  pris- 
oners at  the  bar,  seems  by  his  obreptilious  ingenuity  in 
the  elements  of  gross  flattery,  to  be  making  a  deep  im- 
pression in  his  own  favour  on  your  unguarded  sensibili- 
ties, so  that  he  appears  bent,  may  it  please  your  honours, 
on  making  us  poor  Roman  soldiers  pay  the  bill  of  fare,  at 
the  bar  of  this  solemn  court  of  law  and  inquest,  with  a 
latent  design,  no  doubt,  of  forming  a  kind  of  stepping 
stone  to  raise  himself  [in  the  use  of  marine  phraseology] 
to  be  a  first-rate  officer  on  board  your  law  ships.  There- 
fore, from  the  view  we,  as  Roman  guards,  take  of  this 
young  forensick  gentleman,  feel  much  disposed  to  make 
no  reply  to  his  rife  and  impugning  queries.  But,  may 
it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges,  out  of  sheer 
respect  which  we  owe  to  this  court,  and  the  altars  and 
laws  of  our  sovereign  and  country — therefore,  we  shall 
inform  this  court,  that  we  the  Roman  soldiers,  being 
sixteen  in  number,  and  as  a  watch,  had  the  entire  charge 
of  the  garden  and  sepulchre,  that  contained  the  body  of 
Christ,  after  it  was  crucified — do  once  more  declare 
and  affirm,  that  we  neither  saw,  heard,  felt,  smelt,  nor 
tasted  any  person  or  thing,  of  the  whole  subdolous 
transaction :  for,  please  your  honours,  as  we  reported 
the  next  day  after  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre,  of  the 
dead  body  of  Christ,  and  have  also  affirmed  in  this  courts 
that  we  were  to  a  man,  all  fast  asleep  ;  therefore,  the 
simple  inference,  which  our  soldier-like  judgments  draw, 
and  the  conclusion  we  have  come  to,  in  this  mysterious 
catastrophe,  is   this :  that   our  physical  and   mental 


348  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

natures  were  altogether  nullified,  under  the  dark  shades 
of  the  night ;  so  that  all  our  faculties  lay  completely 
moored,  under  the  nullifying  embargo  of  the  sleeping 
goddess  ;  so  that,  please  the  judges  of  this  solemn  court 
of  law  and  inquest,  we  were  as  unconscious  and  insen- 
sible, as  the  tender  and  delicate  foetus,  that  never  saw 
the  coruscation  of  the  morning  light,  while  that  delete- 
rious catastrophe  passed  over  the  heads  of  sixteen 
Roman  soldiers;  or,  if  your  honours  the  judges  please, 
while  these  prisoners  in  the  criminal's  box,  at  the  bar 
of  this  court,  made  a  clandestine  surreption  on  the 
sepulchre,  and  went  off  with  the  crucified  body  of 
Christ  out  of  the  same.  Therefore,  indulge  us  once 
more  for  the  last  time,  in  the  presence  of  this  court,  and 
if  necessary,  in  the  presence  of  all  mankind,  we  as  the 
soldiers,  who  formed  and  constituted  the  watch  over 
the  sepulchre,  do  very  truly,  humbly  and  obsequiously 
pray  the  judges,  with  the  jury,  and  the  whole  court, 
and  likewise,  as  we  have  just  hinted,  the  whole  world 
of  rational  and  intelligent  beings,  to  receive  this  as  our 
ultimatum  and  valedictory  testimony,  at  the  solemn 
bar  of  this  court :  and  we  again  most  devoutly  pray 
this  court,  to  receive  the  same  as  our  categorical 
answer,  in  the  presence,  and  in  the  name  of  all  the  gods 
of  the  mighty  armies  of  the  Roman  empire.  Amen. 

Here  followeth  a  few  rational  and  serious  reflections 
by  the  five  judges,  in  consequence  of  the  valedictory 
testimony  of  the  royal  guards. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  manly,  and  in  some 
respects  honest  confession,  and  categorical  reply  of  the 
sixteen  Roman  soldiers,  that  composed  the  watch, 
caused  a  forensick  re-action  on  the  judges'  minds; 
[which,  however,  they  as  much  as  possible  endeavoured 
to  conceal  from  the  view  of  the  philosophical  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  the  galleries  of  the  court;]  when  they  began 
for  the  first  time  during  the  lapse  of  eighteen  hundred 
years,  of  this  singular  and  mysterious  trial,  to  have  a 
few  shades  of  legal  light,  to  pass  through  their  minds, 
with  respect  to  the  vulnerableness  of  the  guards'  testi- 
mony :  most  seriously  excogitating  in  their  minds,  why 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  349 

it  was,  that  they  did  not  see  before  this  late  hour  of 
the  trial,  that  there  was  a  most  flagrant  defect  in  the 
watch's  evidence.  When  the  judges,  said  in  a  soliloquy, 
Why,  the  royal  guards'  testimony,  at  the  bar  of  this 
solemn  court  of  truth  and  justice,  goes  most  certainly, 
like  the  curses  of  Balaam,  to  bless  rather  than  convict 
the  disciples,  and  also  to  prove  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  from  the  dead  ;  than  to  disprove  that  soul-dis- 
tressing doctrine  to  us,  who,  either  by  education  or 
choice,  belong  to  the  Jewish,  Deists,  Atheists  casts,  or 
the  philosophical  schools  of  the  age  of  Reason.  Surely, 
some  very  unfelicitous  fatality,  has  spread  a  nebulous 
dispensation  over  our  legal  judgment,  during  the  time 
of  this  mysterious  trial ;  in  that  we  did  not  see,  ere  this 
time,  that  blind,  deaf  and  lifeless  persons,  ought  not  in 
any  case  whatsoever,  to  be  admitted  as  witnesses  in 
any  of  our  courts  of  ecclesiastical,  civil,  or  even  military 
laws :  so  that  we  have  been  guilty  of  a  very  great 
oversight. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  guards  had 
delivered  in  their  ultimatum  to  the  court,  that  the 
young  advocate  for  the  prisoners  rose,  and  very  hum- 
bly and  obsequiously  observed  to  the  judges,  and  court, 
that  he  had  gone  through  the  cross-examining  of  the 
guards :  and  as  I  observe  that  the  chair  of  the  state's 
general  is  vacated,  and  his  learned  honour  is  not  in 
court — therefore,  if  their  honours  the  judges  or  any 
other  forensick  gentleman  in  court  this  day,  have  any 
further  questions  to  put  to  the  guards,  he  should  pause 
for  a  few  moments,  to  give  them  an  opportunity.  After 
he  had  waited  a  reasonable  time,  and  no  person  asked 
the  watch  any  further  questions,  the  young  attorney 
rose,  and  very  prudently  and  politely  observed  to  the 
judges  and  court,  that  he  did  not  wish,  by  any  means, 
to  detain  the  Roman  soldiers  in  durance  any  longer ; 
therefore,  with  the  indulgence  of  the  court,  he  should 
move  that  they  now  be  discharged  from  any  further 
detention  in  court;  so  that  they  may  return  to  their 
respective  locations,  in  order  to  faithfully  discharge 
their  share  of  military  duty  to  the  interest  of  their 

2g 


S50  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

sovereign.  The  court  then  freely  assented  to  the  » 
prudent  prayer  of  the  young  advocate  in  favour  of  1 
the  soldiers'  discharge. 

When  the  chief  judge  rose,  and  signified  to  the  court, 
that  the  hour  of  adjournment  had  arrived ;  and  that 
it  stood  adjourned,  to  meet  in  the  same  place  the 
ensuing  day. 


tHRIST  REJECTED. 


351 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  twenty -fourth   day  of  the  trial  of  the  robbery  of  the 
sepulchre,  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  soon  after  the  judges  and 
other  legal  gentlemen  were  all  at  their  locations,  that 
the  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  the  sheriff  of  Rome, 
with  the  officers  of  the  states-prison,  brought  in  the 
prisoners,  and  placed  them  as  usual,  in  the  old  criminal's 


Fig-Lire  No.  1,  2,  3.  Directing"  the  legal  vision  of  the  court  to  the 
gods,  who  are,  by  the  Roman  mythology,  said  to  preside  over  the 
altars  of  justice,  truth  and  mercy. 

No.  4.  Carnal  Reason,  or  the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  loses 
its  former  convictions,  and  is  again  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at 
the  doctrine  of  the  cross;  with  her  secretary.  Hardness  of  heart,  noting' 
down  her  views  of  Christ. 

No.  5.  The  heavens  of  the  age  of  Reason,  shine  forth  with  un- 
usual splendour,  and  lady  Philosophy  in  her  observatory,  taking  an 
excursive  view  of  the  planetary  system ;  but  more  especially  the 
galaxy  or  milky  way  : — pleased  almost  to  death  at  the  new  doctrine 
of  a  plurality  of  worlds  ;  so  that  the  character  of  Christ  with  his 
gospel,  that  teaches  the  certainty  of  the  soid's  immortality,  has  be- 
come entirely  repulsive  to  the  high-wrought  sensibihty  and  view  of 
the  lady  :  while  her  private  secretary,  Hardness  of  heart,  is  noting 
down  her  observations,  on  every  new  star  or  world  she  discovers  : 


352  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

box  before  the  bar;  when  the  crier  offered  up  the 
forensick  holocaust  of,  God  save  the  emperor  and  com- 
monwealth. 

[The  young  barrister's  polite  compliments  to  the 
court,  for  its  past  attendon  and  decorum,  during  this 
mysterious  trial.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  silence  pervaded  the 
court,  that  the  young  counsellor  for  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  arose  and  thus  addressed  the  court :  May  it 
please  your  learned  honour  the  chief  judge,  with  your 
learned  associates,  and  all  the  gentlemen  who  have 
been  the  forensick  agents  in  the  case  that  has  been 
pending  so  long  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  with  the  pro- 
found, and  I  humbly  hope,  impartial  jury  in  the  box ; 
and  also  the  spectators  in  the  galleries — I  rise,  please 
your  learned  honours,  to  tender  to  this  legal  conclave  of 
w^isdom  and  knowledge,  the  warmest  thanks  of  my 
heart,  and  the  highest  considerations  of  my  mind,  for 
the  deep  and  serious  attention  of  this  court  yesterday, 
while  I  went  through  with  the  cross-examination  of  the 
witnesses,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar ;  therefore, 
may  it  please  your  honours,  I  gather  from  the  coindi- 
cation  of  the  past  attention  of  this  court,  that  I  shall 
this  day,  be  the  humble  and  obsequious  agent,  of  again 
eliciting  the  same  serious  attention,  while  I  shall,  in  my 
weak  and  simple  way  of  legal  argument,  which  the 
imperfect  talents,  and  other  limited  capabilities  which 


-while  the  vineyard  about  her  onvn  never-dying  soul,  in  this  mundane  state, 
is  all  over-grown  with  cockle,  thorns  and  tares  of  philosophical  vanity  ;  till 
her  short  life  of  three  score  years  and  ten,  is  passed  away  like  a  dream — and 
she  dies  at  the  opening  day.  This  will  be  the  last  end  of  ail  those  wise 
philosophical  ladies,  who  forget  God,  and  in  their  little  hearts  des- 
pise the  inimitable  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

No.  6.  The  five  judg-es  listening  to  the  young  lawyer's  arguments. 

No.  7.  Tlie  young  advocate  reasons  and  argues  like  a  man  of  com- 
mon sense,  before  the  judges  ;  and  g'oes  into  a  translation  of  the 
guards'  testimony. 

No. 8.  The  eleven  disciples  in  the  criminal's  box  at  the  bar  of 
this  court. 

No.  9.  The  twelve  jurymen  in  the  box. 

No.  10.  The  states-general's  chair  vacated;  his  honour  being  highly 
displeased  with  the  indulgence  of  the  court  towards  the  prisoners. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  ^  353 

your  humble  servant  possesses,  proceed  to  discharge 
my  duty.  Therefore,  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  I  shall  be  no  longer  prolix,  in  apologizing  at 
the  bar  of  this  court,  for  the  want  of  plenary  capabili- 
ties to  vindicate  the  cause  of  innocence,  and  fully  justify 
the  calumniated  character  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
who  have  been  charged  with  robbing  the  sepulchre,  of 
the  crucified  body  of  that  wonderful  being,  called 
Christ. 

I  shall,  therefore,  please  this  court  and  jury,  in  the 
first  place,  go  into  a  few  common  law  explanations,  on 
the  nature,  character  and  validity  of  the  guards' 
evidence,  against  the  prisoners,  which  your  honours 
know,  has  been  given  in  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  under 
the  solemn  sanction  of  their  oaths.  When  the  young 
barrister  turning  himself  to  the  bench,  said,  May  it 
please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  court, 
over  the  case  of  the  dead  body,  of  one  of  the  strangest 
characters  that  ever  appeared  among  men — who  in- 
volves in  his  own  decease,  the  highest  interest  of  all 
mankind ;  namely,  if  the  prisoners  are  innocent,  then 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  :  and  as  a  plain  and  natural 
consequence,  he  is  the  source  of  life  and  immortality,  to 
the  whole  world  of  mankind.  But,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  if  so  be,  that  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  stole 
his  crucified  body  out  of  the  grave,  then  [for  there  is 
no  middle  ground  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  his  char- 
acter,] I  say  again,  please  this  court,  that  Christ  is  one 
of  the  most  awful  beinfis,  and  vilest  characters,  and  at 
the  same  time,  the  most  artful  and  insidious  deceiver, 
that  ever  presented  himself  to  the  view  of  mankind. 
The  court  will  pardon  those  few  prefatory  remarks. 
Therefore,  please  your  honours,  from  the  auspicious 
coindication  that  I  have  already  seen,  in  the  horizon  of 
your  honours'  attention,  while  the  guards  were  under- 
going a  cross-examination,  which  causes  me  to  expe- 
rience a  full  assurance  in  my  mind,  that  I  shall  be 
highly  gratified  this  day,  with  the  further  patient  at- 
tention of  this  court,  while  I  shall  humbly  endeavour 
to  dissect  the  guards'  testimony  against  the  prisoners 


354  ,  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

at  the  bar ;  called  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ,  over 
whose  dead  body,  this  court  had  been,  by  the  pleasure 
and  authority  of  our  sovereign,  convened  as  a  court  of 
law^  and  inquest.  Therefore,  I  shall  ask  this  court  to 
favour  me  a  few  moments  with  its  indulgence,  while  I 
am  putting  a  keen  edge  on  my  dissecting  instruments. 
I  shall  also,  before  I  proceed  to  the  dismemberment  of 
the  body  of  the  guards'  evidence,  first  observe,  with  all 
due  deference  to  the  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
his  learned  honour  the  chief  judge,  of  this  high  court 
of  chancery,  that  in  the  luminous  charge  he  gave  to  the 
jury,  on  the  case  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar — 

Now  the  particular  feature,  and  special  item,  in  the 
charge  I  allude  to,  is  this  :  his  learned  honour's  high 
commendation  of  the  marvellous  symmetry,  that  there 
was  in  the  guards'  evidence,  given  in  at  the  bar  of  this 
court.  That  is,  please  your  honour,  that  sixteen  per- 
sons giving  in  their  evidence  against  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  should  do  it  with  such  cautious  exactness,  and 
with  all  that  minuteness,  so  as  to  lay  a  sufficient  empha- 
sis on  every  accented  point  and  pause,  in  the  punctua- 
tion of  their  testimony,  delivered  entirely  extemporan- 
eously ;  although  their  witness  against  the  prisoners 
was  so  entirely  verbatim,  that  the  most  ready  scribe, 
that  ever  undertook  to  transcribe  for  the  use  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Moses,  a  copy  of  the  five  books,  that  contain 
the  theism  of  the  prophet,  has  not  exceeded  them  in 
the  exact  use  of  every  article,  noun,  pronoun,  verb,  and 
all  the  resi  of  the  adding  and  qualifying  words  and 
points  of  punctuation,  which  they  have  called  to  their 
aid,  to  form  that  wonderful  fac-similie,  which  so  imbued 
the  mind  of  the  learned  judge,  to  an  acme  of  almost 
supra-mundane  surprise — when  his  learned  honour  the 
chief  judge,  with  a  plenary  share  of  forensick  eloquence, 
informed  the  court  and  jury,  that  the  guards'  witness 
was  the  most  correct  testimony,  that  his  honour  ever 
before,  during  all  his  long  and  extensive  practice,  as  a 
chief  judge  of  the  courts  of  Roman  law,  had  the  pleas- 
ing satisfaction  to  witness.  But,  please  the  court,  I 
shall  claim  the  unalienable  right  and  privilege  of  a 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  355 

Roman  citizen,  to  widely  differ  from  his  learned  honour 
the  chief  judge,  in  what  my  conscience  onerously  leads 
me  to  surname,  an  illegal  corollary.  I  would  humbly 
ask  his  learned  honour,  whether  his  deep  learning  and 
long  practice,  at  the  bar  of  our  courts,  and  his  eleva- 
tion on  the  bench  as  a  judge,  has  not,  ere  this  time, 
made  him  more  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  natural 
philosophy  of  the  human  mind  ;  so  as  to  know,  that  the 
physical  construction  of  the  organs  of  sense,  in  the 
human  subject,  are  so  variously  constructed,  with  re- 
spect to  capacity,  that  no  two  persons,  left  to  the  free 
exercise  of  the  volition  of  their  own  words  and 
thoughts — I  say,  please  your  honour,  on  the  hypothesis, 
that  those  individuals  shall  stand  or  sit  together,  and 
see  the  same  occurrence  or  tragedy  pass  before  their 
vision,  or  under  their  audibility — that  when  they  came 
as  legal  witnesses  at  the  bar  of  our  courts,  who  ever 
heard  two  men  use  exactly  the  same  words,  in  deliver- 
ing their  evidence ;  except  they  had  formed  a  collision 
before  they  came  to  court ;  and  had  learned  from  each 
other  by  rote,  their  story  ?  so  that  we  see  the  relevancy 
of  his  honour's  fac-similie  would  only  apply  in  such  a 
case,  without  comprehending  either  the  sense  or  signi- 
fication of  the  language  they  employed,  when  they  gave 
in  their  testimony  before  any  of  our  bars. 

His  learned  honour  the  judge  will  pardon  those  few 
strictures,  on  the  verbatim  language  and  fac-similie  of 
the  watch's  evidence.  1  have  made  the  foregoing  re- 
marks, in  order  that  I  may  keep  my  conscience  clear 
from  forming  such  an  illegal  conclusion;  at  least  while 
I  am  under  the  guide  of  the  polar  star  of  legal  truth  : 
steering  my  course  by  the  use  of  the  helm  of  common 
sense,  which  will  lead  me  rather  to  clothe  the  guards' 
evidence,  in  the  black  robes  of  one  of  the  most  deliber- 
ate collision — to  affect  one  of  the  most  deleterious  con- 
spiracies :  clothed  with  one  of  the  most  vicious  and  de- 
praved falsehoods,  that  were  ever  uttered  by  the  tongue 
of  man ;  and  at  the  same  time,  deeply  surcharged  with 
lying  venom  of  the  vilest  principle  of  human  nature — 
under  the  nocturnal  influence  of  some  of  our  demo^. 


356  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  the  court,  by  the  indul- 
gence of  his  learned  honour  the  chief  judge,  I  ex- 
perience a  willingness  to  compliment  his  honour's  fac- 
similie  of  the  guards'  evidence.  Yes,  please  the  court, 
I  feel  disposed  to  go  so  far,  as  even  to  eulogize  his  learned 
honour,  in  an  ironical  sense,  on  the  symmetry  and  ver- 
batim language  of  the  guards'  testimony,  before  the 
solemn  bar  of  this  court  of  chancery. 

[Here  foUoweth  a  few  prefatory  remarks  by  the 
young  lawyer,  to  the  judges,  previous  to  his  translating 
the  guards'  evidence,  into  the  elements  of  common 
sense.] 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  high  court 
of  chancery,  to  indulge  me  with  your  serious  attention, 
while  I  proceed  to  take  a  view  of  the  guards'  evidence, 
which  has  been  given  in  before  your  honours,  against 
the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  for  robbing  of  the 
sepulchre  of  the  body  of  Christ.  My  duty  to  my 
clients  and  my  conscience,  propels  me  onerously  to 
solicit  the  undeviating  attention  of  the  judges  and  jury, 
while  I  shall  endeavour  to  prove  to  the  mind  and  under- 
standing of  this  court,  that  there  was  not  one  particle 
of  evidence,  nor  the  least  shade  of  legal  truth  in  the 
testimony  which  the  guards  have  given  in  on  oath, 
before  your  honours  the  judges,  and  the  jury,  that 
either  in  law  or  equity,  or  even  common  sense,  could 
be  received  as  legal  evidence  in  the  less  than  the  least 
degree  of  veracity,  to  prove  even  the  slightest  shades 
of  the  prisoners'  guilt,  in  the  soul-distressing  loss  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  No, 
may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  there  is  not  in  the 
evidence  of  the  guards,  from  first  to  last,  even  one 
solitary  shade  of  mere  parole  or  exparta  testimony,^  on 
which,  please  your  honours,  I  presume  the  most  credu- 
lous in  the  galleries  of  this  court,  will  place  the  least 
confidence  in.  Yes,  I'll  even  go  so  far  on  the  ground 
of  rational  and  argumentative  defiance,  as  to  cast  the 
tocsin  and  challenge  this  court  to  prove,  that  any  court 
formed  of  rational  beings,  would  be  led  to  receive  the 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  357 

guards'  evidence  in  any  of  our  courts  of  judicature, 
where  civil  laws  are  administered,  and  say  that  our 
courts  dare  not  admit,  this  worse  than  volatile  and 
fugitive  evidence ;  which  this  court  through  the  agency 
of  its  judges  and  jury,  have  admitted  against  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar;  with  this  proviso,  that  the  judges, 
lawyers  and  jurors,  are  at  the  time  blest  with  a  state 
of  sanity;  then,  and  in  that  case  please  your  honours,  I 
experience  a  plenary  share  of  assurance,  that  they  will 
all  agree  with  me,  that  the  lowest  principles  of  evidence 
that  our  courts,  of  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical  law, 
can  find  bills  of  indictment,  in  order  to  proceed  with 
legal  process  against  any  person,  is  that  of  a  collateral, 
circumstantial  and  presumptive  testimony.  Therefore, 
I  humbly  and  obsequiously  presume,  that  the  legal 
vision  of  the  judges  and  jurors  of  this  court,  do  clearly 
see,  without  looking  through  my  legal  telescope,  that 
the  guards'  evidence  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
was  entirely  defunct,  in  all  points  of  legal  and  admis- 
sible testimony,  in  the  foregoing  character  and  princi- 
ples of  evidence,  which  I  have  referred  this  court  to,  in 
relation  to  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  being  the  very 
identical  persons  who  stole  the  crucified  body  of  Christ 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  would  humbly 
ask,  in  the  name  of  the  gods  of  our  forefathers,  what 
in  the  name  of  common  sense,  have  your  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  jurors,  been  spending  the  revenue,  and 
wasting  the  time  of  our  sovereign,  about  ?  as  well  the 
legal  talents  of  the  judges,  and  all  the  other  gentlemen 
who  constitute  the  law  elements  of  this  court !  There- 
fore, please  your  honours,  I  shall  not  be  so  tenacious  of 
foundering  on  the  anti-grammatical  rocks  of  tautology, 
as  to  deter  me  from  asking  the  solemn  question  again. 
What  has  the  money  and  time  of  this  court  been  squan- 
dered for,  with  the  unnecessary  prodigality  of  its  foren- 
sick  wisdom  and  knowledge?  Will  the  court  gratui- 
tously permit  me,  with  all  due  deference  to  its  legal 
sensibilities,  to  give  the  answer,  and  say — they  have 


358  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

neither  been  listening  to  collateral,  circumstantial,  pre- 
sumptive, nor  positive  evidence,  against  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar.  No,  may  it  please  your  honours,  and  this 
once  profound  and  intelligent  jury,  it  most  evidently 
appears  to  the  serious  reflection  of  my  mind,  when 
calmly  listening  to  the  vs^atch's  testimony,  w^hich  they 
gave  in  before  your  honours ; — when  my  mind  became 
almost  surcharged  with  legal  pugnacity,  so  that  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  I  forced  a  silent  embargo  on  my 
tongue ;  when  I  had  to  endure  the  sad  disappointment, 
and  legal  mortification,  of  beholding  my  once  venerable 
fathers,  the  judges  of  this  profound  and  high  famed 
court,  with,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a  vitiated  jury,  in  obse- 
quious waiting,  to  bring  in  a  verdict,  on  so  volatile  and 
fallacious  a  charge,  which  your  honours  gave  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  for  their  supposed  robbery  of 
the  sepulchre.  But,  my  sense  of  order  and  legal  de- 
corum, kept  me  fast  moored  under  a  sanitary  quarantine 
of  legal  prudence:  when  I  said  in  a  soliloquy,  Certainly 
some  of  the  demons  from  the  land  of  cymmerian  shades; 
or  else,  some  of  the  flying  salamanders  from  the  old 
heated  furnace  of  Vulton,  had  spread  a  spirit  of  the 
most  dangerous  effervescence,  through  all  the  legal 
elements  of  this  once  wise  and  impartial  court ;  and  as 
a  fatal  and  unpropitious  cause,  has  produced  the  most 
shameful  effect ;  the  which,  please  your  honours,  has 
located  an  illegal  malady,  on  all  the  legal  faculties  of 
this  court ;  which  has  unhappily  led  it  off",  into  a  most 
lamentable,  and  let  me  add,  shameful  dereliction,  from 
the  imposing  altitude  of  its  former  glory,  and  old-hon- 
ourable cause  of  truth,  equity  and  justice — which  it 
anciently  professed  to  manifest ;  and  which  has  elicited 
the  high  opinion  of  the  whole  world. 

But,  please  your  honours,  by  the  use  of  a  figure,  in- 
dulge me  to  say,  that  this  once  highly  famed  court,  has 
spread  its  shameful,  its  gadding,  its  constuperating  feet, 
over  the  maiden  line  of  legal  virtue  ;  and  then,  by  some 
unfelicitous  aberration  from  all  its  impartial  and  legal 
principles,  with  a  deteriorating  heart,  has  impercepti- 
bly glided  down  the  declivity  of  disgrace.     And  may 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  359 

it  please  your  learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  ill- 
fated  court,  which  has  gone  off  into  some  strange  lati- 
tude, where  dwells  neither  wisdom,  knowledge,  pru- 
dence nor  science  ;  into  a  wild  inter-mundane  dispen- 
sation— under  whose  sombre  clouds,  neither  law,  truth, 
justice  nor  equity,  ever  show  their  heads,  above  the 
surface  of  the  foul  waters,  into  which  the  whirl-w  inds, 
from  the  surcharged  clouds  of  ignorance,  have  driven 
this  court,  on  a  dreary  lee-shore,  among  the  rocks  of 
legal  folly,  and  the  quick-sands  of  forensick  shame  and 
disgrace  :  and  at  the  same  time,  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
overcasting  all  the  law  agents  of  this  once  renowned 
court,  with  such  a  degree  of  legal  darkness ;  so  that  a 
strange  aberrating  fatality  has,  as  I  have  before  obser- 
ved, led  oft^  this  court  into  some  dark  and  choatick  re- 
gion, where  its  once  forensick  light,  has  become  dark- 
ness :  and  a  certain  teacher  once  said,  in  one  of  his 
ethicks,  if  the  moral,  and  let  me  add,  legal  light,  that  is 
in  thee,  become  darkness,  how  dense,  or  keeping  close 
to  the  language  of  the  character  referred  to,  how  great 
must  that  darkness  be.  And  if  it  is  not  too  repulsive, 
and  at  the  same  time  too  provoking  to  your  honours' 
sensibilities,  for  me  again  to  observe,  that  the  illegal 
proceedings  of  this  court,  against  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  has  in  my  humble  opinion,  caused  the  once  legal 
light,  that  was  within  the  range  of  its  former  glory,  to 
become  darkness  indeed !  And  the  dense  clouds  are  so 
impenetrable,  that  they  are  no  longer  pervious  to  th« 
coruscations  of  legal  light.  And  suffer  me  to  observe, 
that  the  illegal  proceedings  of  this  court,  against  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  by  the  agency  of  your  honours,  and 
the  maleable  jury,  whose  good  sense  by  the  hard  blows 
of  your  illegal  tilt-hammers,  must  have  made  them 
as  flat  as  a  certain  fish,  called  a  flounder ;  so  that  at 
the  bar  of  this  once  enlightened  court,  truth  and  false- 

NoTB. — The  foregoing  allegory,  is  designed  to  show  how 
man  has  fallen  from  that  perfect  state  in  which  God  created 
him. 


360  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

hood,  right  and  wrong,  guilt  and  innocence,  vice  and 
virtue,  light  and  darkness,  are  now  the  moral  price- 
current  of  this  once  famous  court.  Therefore,  the  ap- 
peal I  shall  make  to  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
is  this  :  that  any  court  and  jury,  that  at  the  time  when 
a  cause  is  pending  before  its  bar  for  legal  adjudication, 
and  the  court  is  labouring  under  the  acme  of  such  an 
illegal  and  contagious  fever,  I  presume  the  court  is  not, 
in  consequence  of  the  periodical  paroxysms  of  the  dis- 
ease, [of  sin,]  at  all  times  in  a  state  of  sanity.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
and  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  the  inference  1  draw, 
is  this :  that  any  court,  or  other  conclave  of  civilians 
and  ecclesiastical  gentlemen,  labouring  under  so  many 
legal,  moral  and  mental  disabilities,  is  not  a  competent 
tribunal,  to  try  the  cause  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
who  are  called  the  disciples  of  Christ  ;  until,  please 
your  honours,  the  court  entirely  disrobes  itself,  of  all 
its  foul  and  constuperating  garments  ;  in  order,  that 
the  acme  of  its  deleterious  fever,  may  be  by  the  mild 
catholicon  of  common  sense,  lowered  to  a  state  of 
sanity.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  be  led  in  the  glorious  leading  strings  of 
justice,  truth  and  equity,  and  be  fully  prepared,  with 
the  principles  of  mercy  and  impartiality,  fairly  to  try 
the  cause  now  pending  before  its  solemn  tribunal. 
When  the  young  lawyer  paused,  and  said,  by  the 
pleasure  of  the  court,  the  jury  might  retire  for  an  half 
hour — which  was  by  the  judges  immediately  granted. 

A  NOTE  BY  THE  STENOGRAPHER. 

By  the  reader's  indulgence,  the  stenographer  will, 
by  way  of  a  short  rational  refreshment,  while  the  jury 
are  by  the  usual  indulgence  of  our  court,  privileged 
with  their  half-hour  to  refresh  themselves,  with  those 


Note. — This  part  of  the  allegory  is  designed  to  show,  the 
entire  imbecility  of  unconverted  men,  to  fairly  examine  the 
evidences  and  truth  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  361 

things  that  are  of  a  tangible  nature;  therefore,  in  order 
to  improve  the  time,  we  shall  humbly  ask  the  reader 
to  turn  over  the  pages  of  his  past  life,  and  see  whether 
there  has  not  been  an  almost  fac-similie  in  the  reason- 
ings, groundless  objections,  and  self-extenuations,  of 
his  w^ords  and  acts,  against  God  and  the  gospel  of  his 
dear  Son  ;  in  your  entire  neglect  of  that  volume,  which 
by  way  of  special  distinction,  is  called  the  bible:  the 
truth  of  which,  your  good  sense,  as  a  being  which  God 
has  so  highly,  and  pre-eminently  distinguished  you, 
with  the  high  faculties  and  powers  of  reason,  and  in- 
telligence. Therefore,  thoughtful  reader,  whether  thou 
art  a  Jew,  Deist,  Turk,  or  Christian,  you  may  clearly 
see,  that  the  whole  truth  and  validity  of  that  volume, 
which  is  called  a  special  revelation  coming  from  God, 
converges  its  whole  force  of  evidence  on  this  dernier 
point  of  the  gospel  compass  :  pid,  or  did  not,  the  eleven 
disciples  of  Christ,  steal  the  dead  body  of  their  master 
out  of  the  sepulchre  ?  The  reader  will  pardon  my  tauto- 
logous  use  of  the  same  ideas.  Now  this  hypothesis  is 
very  simple,  and  the  conclusion  is  as  simple  also,  as 
that  H  T  U  R  T,  when  reversed,  will  convey  the  coindi- 
cation  of  Truth.  Just  so,  thoughtful  reader,  if  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead — then  his  gospel  is  true.  And  then 
in  that  case,  there  remains  another  simple  premise  and 
conclusion;  and  that  saith  Almighty  God,  wo  unto 
the  Deist  and  Atheist.  Therefore,  thoughtful  reader, 
can  any  man,  truly  and  unfeignedly  believe,  that  Christ 
actually  and  in  very  deed,  rose  from  the  dead,  and  that 
this  said  rising  Christ  shall  stand  in  a  pillory  of  dis- 
grace, for  Deists,  Atheists,  and  vain  Philosophers  to 
throw  the  rotten  eggs  of  their  scorn  and  risibility  in  his 
face  forever  ?  (while  the  Devil  convenes  his  band  of 
music,  in  the  great  gallery  of  Hell,  and  sings  his  old 
canticle,  for  their  diversion,  that  sinners  shall  never 
die ;  although  both  God  and  Christ  hath  declared,  that 
"  except  all  men  repent  and  believe  the  gospel,"  they 
shall  be  damned  :)  And  that  too,  while  they  bring  forth 
Christ  like  the  Philistines  did  poor  blind  Sampson,  in  the 
midst  of  a  theatre  of  Carnal  Reason,  and  Deistical 

2u 


S63  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

scorn,  to  make  them  sport,  during  the  time  these  wise 
characters  hold  him  in  a  pillory  of  vanity ;  and  that 
they  shall  cause  him  to  suffer  all  his  promises  to  his 
church  and  people,  to  go  unfulfilled  ?  No,  says  the 
Almighty  Father  of  this  risen  Christ!  The  heavens  and 
the  earth  shall  first  pass  away,  before  even  one  solitary 
promise  shall  fall  to  the  earth,  unfulfilled.  But,  thought- 
ful reader,  in  vain  shall  the  Deist,  Atheists,  and  vain 
Philosophers  think  to  escape  the  ire  of  the  wrath  of 
Almighty  God  I  When  once  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda 
shall  be  roused  from  the  thickets  of  Jordan,  by  this  in- 
sulting triumvirate  of  ungodly  men,  and  nod  his  head, 
and  shake  his  shaggy  mane,  and  cause  them  to  hear 
the  intonation  of  his  thundering  voice — when  his  last 
loud  roar  shall  give  the  earth  a  tremulous  sensation, 
in  this  awful  language  :  For  the  great  day  of  his  long 
delayed  wrath,  has  at  last  come  on  the  earth :  and  the 
vain  Philosopher,  insidious  Deist,  and  the  scorning 
Atheist,  shall  not  be  able  to  stand  !  When  the  soul- 
chagrin  interrogatory  of  God,  will  overwhelm  this  tri- 
umvirate with  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 

Reader,  whoever  thou  art,  whether  of  patrician  or 
plebeian  blood  or  birth  ;  whether  a  Philosopher,  or  a 
way-faring  man ;  a  rich  or  a  poor  man ;  a  master  or 
slave  ;  and  by  profession  a  Deist,  Atheist,  Heathen  or 
Turk;  hear  Christ's  words  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  the  ministry  of  his  beloved  servant  the 
apostle  Paul ;  which,  if  the  natural  and  grammatical 
sense  of  the  language  is  or  can  be  comprehended,  by 
rational  intelligent  beings,  then  pardon,  thoughtful 
reader,  the  writer's  frequent  tautology,  by  saying,  that 
the  language  of  Christ's  servant,  by  the  name  of  Paul, 
is  enough  to  seriously  alarm  all  the  Philosophers,  and 
carnal  Reasoners  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  And, 
thouorhtful  reader,  indulge  the  writer  to  illustrate  his 
view  of  your  awful  and  jeopardous  condition,  by  the 
simple  use  of  a  marine  figure,  which  is.  That  the  writer 
may  be  justified  in  calling  the  language  of  Paul,  the 
fire-ship  of  the  gospel  squadron ;  loaded  down  to  her 
bench  with  the  great  magazine,  which  contains  the  hot 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  363 

displeasure  and  fiery  indignation,  of  the  wrath  of 
Almighty  God  ;  especially  against  Carnal  Reason  and 
vain  Philosophy. 

I'll  give  the  captain  of  the  fire-ship^s  own  words ; 
which  are  enough  to  set  on  fire  all  the  strong  holds  of 
the  lying  serpent,  the  Devil  and  Satan — that  he  has, 
in  this  mundane  dispensation,  commanded  by  his  obse- 
quious and  humble  servants  the  Atheists,  Deists,  carnal 
Keasoners,  Free-thinkers,  and  wise  philosophers,  and 
sinners  of  every  class — Hear  captain  Paul's  own  words; 
and  then  judge  for  yourselves:  '-And  to  you  who  are 
troubled  rest  with  us,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  re- 
vealed from  heaven,  with  his  mighty  angels  in  flaming 
fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God, 
and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ: 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power."  But,  reader,  time  is  short,  and  I  cannot  spare 
any  more  of  the  precious  article,  on  board  captain 
VsiwVs  fire-ship,  blowing  through  the  speaking  trumpet 
at  this  time,  to  warn  you  of  your  danger ;  as  the  half- 
hour's  indulgence,  to  the  court  and  jury,  has  expired, 
and  I  see  them  all  rushino^  into  court  again. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  young  counsellor  for 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  resumed  his  plea,  and  said  : 
May  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  ;  I  am  bold  this  day  in  your 
profound  presence;  although  I  shall,  no  doubt,  draw  a 
small  shower  of  your  honours'  risibility,  at  my  sailing 
my  forensick  ship,  so  frequently,  through  the  waters  of 
tautology,  at  the  bar  of  this  court ;  so  that  if  my  audi- 
bility does  not  greatly  deceive  me,  I  perceive  your 
honours  in  a  soliloquy  saying.  What  our  youngster 
with  his  fine  sash,  the  young  ladies  of  his  country  gave 
him  to  plead  his  maiden-plea  in  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
w^ants  in  sound  and  legal  argument,  he  seems  bent  by 
filling  up  his  errata  or  manly  cavities  of  his  argument, 
by  pestering  the  court  with  his  tautologous  remarks ! 
Be  that  as  it  may,  please  your  learned  honours,  your 


364  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

risible  sprinkles  shall  not  deter  me  from  exposing  the 
folly  and  weakness  of  this  court,  and  discharging  the 
onerous  responsibility  1  owe  to  my  conscience,  and  the 
interest  and  character  of  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the 
bar.  Therefore,  I  shall  solemnly  aver,  that  the  wis- 
dom, knowledge,  time,  treasure  and  talents  of  this  court, 
has  all  been  shamefully  spent,  and  wastefully  consumed, 
in  listening  to  the  sporting  phantoms  of  soldiers'  dreams; 
or  rather  the  fanciful  vagaries  of  the  sleepy  guards,  in 
the  presence  and  audibility  of  your  learned  honours 
the  judges,  [or  the  perfect  state  of  the  human  mind, 
before  the  sin  of  Adam.]  Yes,  may  it  please  your 
honours,  it  was  with  the  greatest  violence  on  my  legal 
sensibilities,  that  I  kept  my  tongue  silently  embargoed, 
within  the  sanitary  regulations  and  quarantine  laws  of 
forensick  decorum,  when  I  saw  and  heard  your  honours 
and  this  court,  listen  to,  and  receive  the  guards'  vile 
and  unreasonable  lies,  as  a  substitute  for  legal  evidence 
against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  as  I  before  said.  And 
now,  will  the  court  be  so  indulgent  as  to  bear  with  me, 
while  I  shall  endeavour  to  relieve  my  mind  from  the 
onerous  element  of  astoni'^hment,  that  has  located  on  it, 
in  consequence  of  listening  to  the  irrational  arguments 
and  illegal  logic  of  this  court ;  by  making  a  small  sur- 
reption,  on  the  sententious  merchandize  of  an  old 
author,  and  say  to  your  learned  honours,  how  is  the 
faithful  court  become  a  harlot !  that  in  its  former  days 
the  vision  and  voice  of  God  saw,  and  pronounced  it  very 
good — and  righteousness,  jud.irment,  truth  and  justice, 
lodged  in  it ;  but  now  murderers  ;  so  that  its  forensick 
silver  and  gold  has  become  dross,  and  the  choice  wine 
of  its  antecedent  wisdom  and  knowledge,  is  now  mixed 
with  the  foul  waters  of  disgrace  and  ignorance ;  so 
that  it  has  become  defunct,  in  the  waters  of  the  dead 
sea  of  lying  vanity.  These  reflections  passed  in  quick 
succession  through  my  mind,  during  the  examination 
of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.  Yes,  may  it  please  your 
learned  honours,  my  young  mind,  was  at  times,  as  it 
were,  almost  astounded,  with  the  tergiversations  that 
this  court,  so  often  legally  resorted  unto,  in  its  false 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  365 

ratiocination  ;  flying  first  to  one  shifting  sand  bank, 
and  then  unto  another;  just  like  the  marine  figure  I 
shall  take  the  presuming  boldness  of  placing  before 
your  honours,  of  a  sporting  Dolfin,  playing  and  spring- 
ing after  the  little  flying  fish  of  vanity  and  falsehood ; 
or,  dropping,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  my 
similie,  in  your  legal  presence ;  I  shall  then  say,  that 
the  shifting  ground  of  reasoning  and  argument,  that 
this  court  has  lowered  its  dignity  to  make  use  of,  in 
order  to  convict  and  condemn  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
called  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ,  for  robbing  the 
sepulchre  ;  1  say,  please  your  learned  honours,  were 
onh"  laid  on  a  baseless  foundation,  just  like  the  delusive 
vision  of  an  hungry  man,  who  dreams  he  is  seated  at 
the  festive  board,  where  the  cornucopiae  is  surcharged 
from  the  revenues  of  nature,  and  had  discharged  itself 
on  the  hungry  man's  table.  But,  behold!  may  it  please 
your  honours,  the  starving  man  awakes  from  his 
bacchanalian  vision,  but  his  soul,  with  the  starving 
prodigal,  had  not  filled  his  belly  with  the  empty  husks 
of  his  night  vision. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  ;  pray,  has  not  this  court 
been  fulfilling  the  character  of  my  sleeping  bacchana- 
lian— ^just  like  the  delusive  dreams  of  the  starving  man? 
so  that  the  court  has  been  feasting  with  its  fevered 
mind,  from  the  illegal  horn  surcharged  with  falsehood, 
gathered  from  the  empty  husks  of  the  sporting  vagaries 
of  the  sleeping  soldiers  ?  1  say,  may  it  please  your 
honours,  my  mind  at  times  has  been  almost  chagrined 
while  I  sat  incog,  in  this  court,  and  silently  beheld 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  w^th  the  jury,  listen- 
ing with  profound  attention  to  the  visonary  testimony 
of  the  Roman  guards  !  And  for  this  court  to  carry  the 
climax  of  its  illegal  folly  to  its  utmost  acme,  in  admit- 
ting the  watch's  lying  dreams,  as  a  legal  evidence  at 
the  bar  of  this  once  solemn  court,  on  the  side  of  the 
crown,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  the  disciples 
of  Christ.  I  shall  therefore  humbly  inquire  of  his 
learned  honour  the  chief  judge,  with  his  learned  asso- 
2h* 


366  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

ciates  at  his  right  and  left :  Pray,  sirs,  what  are  the 
legal  characters  of  the  witnesses,  and  the  forensick 
shades  of  their  testimony,  which  this  high  and  hereto- 
fore honourable  court,  has  admitted  in  evidence  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar? 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  I  shall, 
as  it  were,  gratuitously  venture  to  humbly  persuade 
myself,  that  I  shall  still  be  favoured  with  the  profound 
attention  of  this  court,  while  I  levy  a  small  tax  on  the 
judges  and  jury's  patience  ;  and  also  indulge  me  to  lay 
a  transient  sanitary  quarantine  on  the  patience  and 
clemency  of  all  the  spectators  in  this  court,  while  I 
shall  obsequiously  endeavour,  with  my  surgical  instru- 
ments of  common  sense,  to  dissect  the  head,  body  and 


Note. — A  word  to  the  reader,  in  plain  and  unfigurative 
language  :  What  are  the  overwhelming  arguments,  by  which 
the  Deists,  the  Atheist  and  vain  Philosophers  set  at  naught 
and  indefinitely  reject  the  Son  of  God,  and  his  sublime  and 
inimitable  gospel?  Why,  reader,  it  is  this,  "His  disciples 
stole  him  while  we  slept."  Now,  reader,  is  it  not  marvellous- 
ly strange,  that  all  the  Jews,  Deists,  Atheists  and  Philoso- 
phers, who  in  general  seem  to  be  wise,  sensible,  rational,  and 
some  of  them  intelligent  beings,  on  any  subject  in  this  mun- 
dane state  :  yes,  reader,  they  can  both  think,  speak,  and  act 
like  social  and  intelligent  beings  ;  but  if  you  bring  them  on 
that  dignified  subject,  of  the  souVs  immortality^  they  then 
seem  to  have  lost,  as  in^  moment  of  time,  all  their  powers 
and  faculties  of  ratiocination  ;  and  gape  on  you,  like  the  wild 
man  of  the  wilderness  ;  who  can  only  make  a  few  hierogly- 
phical  signs,  to  convey  his  ideas  to  his  fellows.  And  as  for 
sound  and  rational  argument,  on  Heaven,  Hell,  Eternity, 
Christ,  and  the  soul's  immortality,  they  are  subjects  for  which 
they  have  no  ideas:  so  that,  like  the  short-sighted  judges  of 
this  court,  they  can  believe  any  tale  of  wicked  men  and  the 
Devil — no  matter  how  absurd  the  idea  may  be,  if  it  only  has 
God,  and  Christ,  and  Immortahty,  and  their  moral  accounta- 
bility to  heaven,  for  the  object  of  their  impugning  strictures, 
and  insidious  risibility ;  they  can  then  use  their  ideas  and 
tongues  to  the  best  possible  advantage.  But  no  more  from 
the  poor  sailor  at  present. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  367 

all  the  members  of  the  guards'  oath,  which  his  learned 
honour  the  state's  attorney,  on  the  behalf  of  the  crown, 
administered  to  the  royal  guards. 

And  now,  by  the  indulgence  of  their  honours  the 
judges,  I  shall  pursue  my  surgical  operations,  in  order 
to  give  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  and  through  it 
the  whole  world,  the  most  open  and  indubitable  evidence, 
that  I  have  at  least  a  latent  desire,  to  steer  clear  of 
those  heavy  charges,  that  Reason  and  Philosophy  have 
so  very  often  obliquely,  although  at  the  same  time 
gratuitously  thrown  out  at  the  words  and  works  of  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  with  those  of  their  master  :  that  is, 
please  your  learned  honours,  that  they  were  very  much 
in  the  cautious  habit  of  performing  all  their  dissecting 
operations  with  closed  doors,  with  a  view  of  keeping 
the  keen  eye  of  Reason,  and  the  eagle  vision  of  Philo- 
sophy, from  having  a  clear  view  of  their  mysterious 
operations.  Now,  the  ladies  insidious  charge  ran  in 
those  w^ords  :  that  is.  Reason  and  Philosophy,  who  have 
said,  through  the  agency  of  the  tongues  and  pens  of 
their  dear  offspring  the  young  swains,  who  in  after 
ages  affianced  the  lovely  nymphs,  the  daughters  of  the 
old  goddess  of  the  Age  of  Reason  and  Philosophy — 
that  these  things  were  all  done  in  a  corner.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  your  honours,  it  is  my  anxious  de- 
sire, to  keep  out  of  the  reach,  if  possible,  of  their  in- 
vidious mustard  seed  shot  from  the  risible  rifle  of  the 
ladies'  dear  offspring,  while  I  am  translating  the 
guards'  oath  into  the  language  of  common  sense. 


368 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


Here  foUoweth  the  translation  of  the  guards'  testi- 
mony, by  the  young  lawyer  ;  who  advocates  the  cause 
of  truth  and  innocence,  against  the  false  reason,  and 
the  vain  philosophy  of  the  human  mind,  as  it  stands 
[in  the  year  1832,  August  11th,  while  the  Asiatic 
Cholera  was  raging  in  New- York  and  Philadelphia,] 
opposed  to  Christ  and  his  gospel ;  or  in  the  similitude 
used  in  this  trial,  translating  the  guards'  evidence  into 
the  language  of  common  sense.  And  according  to  the 
usual  custom  of  courts,  the  jury  having  been  indulged 


No.  1.  The  altar  of  truth  ami  justice. 

No.  2.  The  great  gallery  over-flowing  with  spectators. 

No.  3.  Tlie  five  judges  on  the  bench. 

No.  4.  Lady  Reason,  and  her  private  secretary,  Hardness  of  hectrt, 
greatly  astounded  at  the  translation  of  the  guards'  oaths. 

No.  5.  Lady  Philosopljy  has  thrown  down  her  telescope,  and  is  with  her 
left  hand  showing  her  secretary,  Unbe'ief,  that  the  Sun  in  the  Age  of 
Reason  is  almost  again  obscurated  ; — and  with  her  right  hand  directing  the 
vision,  and  soliciting  the  attention  of  her  private  secretary,  to  listen  to  the 
young  advocate's  artful  manner  of  translating  the  testimony  of  the  guards  ; 
which  they  gave  in  against  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar. 

No.  6.  The  young  attoi-ney  before  the  writing  table,  on  which  he  mad« 
his  translation  of  the  w  atch's  aflirmation  into  common  sense,  and  reading 
the  eame  to  the  jury ;  wlto,  with  all  the  spectators  in  coui't,  are  listening  with 
great  attention. 

No.  7.  The  eleven  disciples  in  the  old  criminal's  box. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  369 

with  an  half-hour's  grace,  for  various  physical  purposes 
of  relief  and  refreshment,  had  now  returned  into  court; 
when  the  young  barrister  rose  and  said — May  it  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  and  the  gentlemen  of 
the  jury,  it  devolves  on  me  this  afternoon,  as  I  have 
brought  my  dissecting  instruments  with  as  keen  an 
edge,  as  my  poor  hone  of  legal  argument,  can  at  this 
time  put  on  them.  Therefore,  in  the  first  place,  I  shall 
just  observe,  that  the  four  quaternions,  that  is,  sixteen 
Roman  guards,  who  were  placed  by  the  centurion  as 
guards  over  the  sepulchre — who,  please  your  honours, 
acted  immediately  under  the  imperative  orders  of 
Pontius  Pilate,  the  governor  of  Judea  ;  which  embraced 
within  its  jurisdiction,  the  old  and  noted  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, as  w^e  have  so  often  said  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
with  its  wonderful  and  magnificent  temple  :  this  your 
honours  well  know ;  that  this  sad  loss  took  place,  in  or 
about  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
Caesar,  as  has  been  once  observed  to  this  court,  count- 
ing from  the  time  that  Augustus  took  him  as  a  princi- 
pal wnth  himself  in  the  government  of  the  empire. 

I  wnll  now,  please  your  learned  honours,  read  in  your 
audibility,  and  that  of  the  whole  court,  my  translation 
or  rather  dissection  of  this  w^onde^ful  and  marvellous 
testimony,  w^hich  please  the  court,  I  view  as  more  re- 
markable for  its  sleepy  stolidity,  than  for  any  other 
quality:  it  runs  thus  :  '*We,  may  it  please  this  court, 
who  were  placed  as  a  military  watch  over  the  sepulchre, 
that  w^as  located  in  the  garden,  hard  by  the  place  that 
was  called  Mount  Calvary,  w^here  Christ  was  publicly 
crucified ;  therefore,  we  the  royal  guards,  who  had 
committed  to  our  care  and  safe  keeping,  the  aforesaid 
crucified  body  of  Christ,  and  that  too,  under  the  solemn 
charge  of  his  holiness,  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  more  imperative  orders  and  commands 
of  our  officer,  the  centurion :  therefore,  be  it  remember- 
ed, that  we  this  day,  in  the  19th  year  of  the  reign  of 
our  sovereign  lord,  Tiberius;  and  in  the  days  of  the 
aforesaid  Pontius  Pilate,  also  in  the  days  of  his  holiness 
Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and  as  we  are 


370  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

now  in  the  presence  of  the  judges  of  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  over  the  loss  of  the  dead  body  of  Christ ; 
and  also,  before  the  sacred  altars  of  our  country  ;  and 
in  the  heart-searching  presence  of  all  our  national  gods: 
We  do  this  day,  for  ourselves,  first  personally  ;  and 
secondly,  collectively,  most  solemnly  declare  and  affirm, 
that  we  are  no  evidence,  nor  any  kind  of  witnesses  in 
this  mysterious  case,  now  pending  for  trial  at  the  bar 
of  this  solemn  and  impartial  court :  For,  may  it  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  for  this  very  obvious 
reason  :  for  we  were  to  a  man  fast  asleep  :  so  that,  no 
doubt,  the  wisdom  and  knowledge,  associated  with  the 
good  sense  of  your  learned  honours,  doth  plainly  see, 
that  we  who  were  the  guards  placed  over  the  dead 
body  of  Christ,  had  neither  eyes  to  see,  nor  ears  to 
hear,  nor  tangibility  to  the  touch  :  nor  were  our  alfac- 
tory  nerves,  at  the  time  of  the  robbery,  in  sensitive 
operation,  to  smell  the  nauseous  effluvia,  arising  from 
the  dead  body  of  Christ ;  when  the  prisoners  at  the  bar 
drew  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre  : 
for  we  were  all  fast  asleep.  Therefore,  your  honours 
the  judges,  will,  we  presume,  in  your  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  be  legally  led  to  give  us 
our  full  discharge,  in  consequence  of  the  foregoing 
reasons,  which  we  have  this  day  educed  in  the  audi- 
bility of  this  court,  and  most  indubitably  assigned,  of 
our  entire  physical  and  moral  disqualifications,  as 
witnesses,  given  in  under  our  solemn  affirmation  at  the 
bar  of  this  court :  so  that  we  do  again  repeat  and  say, 
that  we  do  once  more  most  solemnly  declare  and  affirm, 
that,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the 
whole  court,  that  we  were  neither  positive,  presump- 
tive, circumstantial,  nor  even  collateral  witnesses,  in 
the  case  at  issue  at  the  bar  :  for  we  iterate  again,  that 
not  one  of  us,  who  stood  watch  at  the  sepulchre,  at  the 
time  the  robbery  was  committed,  either  saw,  heard, 
felt,  or  smelt,  any  person  or  thing,  of  the  whole  myste- 
rious transaction.  Amen.  And  further  the  witnesses 
saith  not."     Court  of  Areopagus  :  sworn  before  me,  one 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  371 

of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  of  the  empire  of  sound 
Reason.  Signed, 

.iu£^st  15,  1832.  COMMON  SENSE,  Alderman. 

The  young  barrister  of  Roman  law's  humble  and  very 
obsequious  apology  to  the  Jew,  Deists,  and  their  dear 
kinsman,  the  profound  Atheist,  for  his  new  mode  of 
translating  the  report,  or  affirmation  of  the  Roman 
guards,  at  the  time  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  w^as 
lost  or  stolen  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

Now,  may  it  most  graciously  please  your  learned 
honours,  the  five  judges  of  this  court  of  law  and  inquest, 
with  the  intelligent  and  enlightened  jury  :  profound 
gentlemen  of  the  law,  and  conservators  of  civil  virtue, 
and  the  guardians  of  legal  truth,  before  the  civick 
altars  of  our  national  gods^ — I  do  humbly  and  obse- 
quiously ask,  does  not  your  natural  views  of  truth,  and 
its  malignant  counterpoise  falsehood,  fully  justify  my 
plain,  and  yet  very  simple  translation  of  the  guards' 
testimony,  which  has  been  given  in — and  also,  received 
as  full  and  indubitable  evidence  against  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar  of  this  court,  famed  throughout  the  world  in 
its  antecedent  days,  as  an  impartial  tribunal.  There- 
fore, the  legal  indulgence  and  favour  I  am  this  morn- 
ing about  to  crave,  of  this  impartial  court,  is  this :  that 
his  serene  highness.  Alderman  Common-sense,  be  by 
the  legal  etiquette  and  forensick  urbanity  of  this  w^ell 
bred  court,  specially  invited  to  take  the  chair  for  a 
few  moments,  while  he  passes  a  righteous,  and  equita- 
ble sentence,  on  my  simple  mode  of  translating  the 
watch's  evidence.  Now,  may  it  please  your  honours, 
all  the  favour  T  ask,  seeing  you  have  granted  me  the 
indulgence  of  inducting  Alderman  Common-sense  on  the 
scarlet  cushion,  in  the  sensorium  of  your  honours'  legal 
understandings,  and  indulge  me  to  associate  as  his  col- 
league, his  caustic  reverence.  Doctor  Conscience  ;  and 
let  me  ask  your  honours  and  the  jury,  is  not  the  legal 
explication  and  open,  and  I  trust,  fair  dissection,  which 
I  have  given  of  the  phraseology  employed  by  the 
guards,  in  solemn  testimony  against  the  lives  of  the 


372  ClIllIST  REJECTED. 

prisoners  at  the  bar,  in  full  consonance  with  the  natural 
organization  of  letters,  which  the  guards  very  leisurely- 
first  associated  into  words,  and  then,  to  the  marvellous 
astonishment  of  your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this 
court,  formed  that  almost  supra-mundane  sentence, 
which  like  the  interwoven,  and  complicated  knot,  that 
the  young  Grecian  hero  severed  asunder,  with  the  keen 
edge  of  his  sabre,  which  had  perplexed  the  mind,  and 
puzzled  the  wit  of  this  court,  for  upwards  of  twenty 
days :  And  also,  Jews,  Deists,  and  Atheists,  and  pro- 
found Philosophers,  for  these  last  eighteen  hundred 
years,]  to  either  untie  or  unravel  this  knot.  There- 
fore, I  crave  the  indulgence  of  this  court,  to  place  this 
marvellous,  sententious  knot,  in  the  full  relievo  of  your 
learned  honours'  wisdom  and  legal  knowledge,  so  that 
you  may,  if  the  gracious  condescension  of  the  learned 
judges  of  this  court,  pleases  to  wet  the  edge  of  their 
legal  sabres,  on  this  old  fashion  hone  of  common  sense, 
they  may  then  cut  this  colossus,  this  marvellous  lying 
hydra  of  unbelief  asunder,  with  the  same  adroitness,  as 
the  young  subdolous  conqueror  cut  the  gordian  knot, 
"  His  disciples  came  by  night,  and  stole  him  while  we 
slept." 

And  now  having,  please  your  learned  honours,  hung 
up  this  knot,  [that  has  so  unmercifully  perplexed  the 
nation  of  the  Jews,  and  ferreted  out  all  the  Philosophy 
of  the  wise  and  great  men  of  the  outward  christian 
world,]  on  the  civick  altar,  full  in  the  relievo  of  the  bar 
of  this  court,  I  shall  now  undulate  the  audibility  of 
every  gentleman  present,  by  expressing  the  unfeigned 
conviction  of  my  mind  before  the  court,  by  calling  to 
the  aid  of  my  repulsive  sensibilities,  [at  the  folly  of  my 
fellow  men,]  as  auxilliaries  to  alleviate  the  moral  dis- 
pleasure of  my  mind  ;  and  the  language  I  shall  now 
employ  is  this  :  that  the  idle  tale,  and  self-contradictory 
report  of  the  guards  is,  please  your  honours,  one  of  the 
most  fallacious  stories,  that  was  ever  uttered  by  the 
tongue  of  man.  I  must  once  more  iterate  the  pithy 
annunciation  of  my  fellow  dying  men,  as  a  marvellous 
sententious  knot,  to  frighten  the  world  out  of  the  be- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  373 

lief  of  their  own  immortality,  and  the  resurrection  of 
the  crucified  body  of  Christ  from  the  dead:  although, 
your  learned  honours  have  once  pounded  my  head 
with  your  tilt-hammer  of  cutting  sarcasm,  before  all 
the  ladies  and  gentlemen  present,  for  my  plenary  use 
of  the  elements  of  tautology :  therefore,  I  once  more 
repeat  the  sleepy  catholicon,  gratuitously  given  by 
Jews,  Deists,  Atheists,  and  profound  Philosophers,  as 
a  downy  pillow  and  soul-conservator  of  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Adam  :  "  His  disciples  stole  him  while  we 
slept !  ! !"  The  which  declaration,  as  I  have  once  said 
in  the  presence  of  your  honours,  is  more  remarkable 
for  its  sleepy  stolidity,  than  any  other  quality. 


A  short  note  by  the  Stenographer. — Ye  sons  of  Jacob,  be- 
nignly indulge  the  writer  to  dolorously  exclaim,  in  the  gra- 
tuitous use  of  the  language  of  one  of  your  own  prophets  : 
"  Hear,  O  heavens  !  and  give  ear,  O  earth  !  I  have  nourished 
and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me." 
Yea,  they  have  deteriorated  so  far  from  the  elements  of  in- 
telligence and  clear  ratiocination,  or  the  powers  of  legal  argu- 
ment, that  even  common  sense  has  spread  its  wings  and  de- 
parted from  the  house  of  Israel ;  and  the  once  glorious 
tabernacles  of  Jacob  !  so  that  their  own  God  has  fully  justi- 
fied himself  before  angels  and  men,  in  giving  their  full  por- 
trait on  the  telegraph  of  his  Word,  by  his  servant  the  prophet, 
of  all  the  features  and  depreciating  lineaments  of  their  char- 
acter :  that  is,  in  a  moral  sense,  they  stood  below  the  feet  of 
the  ox  and  the  dumb  ass,  in  the  slough  of  ignorance  ;  wallow- 
ing in  the  mire  of  sin  ;  and  with  a  spirit  surcharged  with  the 
elements  of  pugnacity  and  unbelief — rejecting  their  own 
national  Messiah ;  on  the  luke-warm  and  nauseous  lying 
element,  generated  by  the  oviparous  spawn  of  the  old  ser- 
pent, Satan,  in  the  caldron  of  the  guards'  dreams  :  who 
seem  on  this  occasion,  to  have  put  the  modesty  of  Moses'  old 
serpent  to  the  blush,  in  the  science  of  falsehood  :  for  he  was 
wide  awake,  when  he  introduced  himself  into  the  drawing- 
room  of  the  fair  lady  Eve  :  but  never  once  insulted  her  high 
wrought  intelligence,  with  the  sporting  vagaries  of  his  sleep- 
ing moments.     No,  ye  sons  of  Israel !  if  the  Devil  had  not 

2i 


374  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

We  will  now  return  into  court. — But,  may  it  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  to  graciously  indulge 
me  to  remark  in  your  presence — although  I  am,  it  is 
true,  both  young  in  years  and  the  practice  of  the  law, 
at  the  bars  of  our  higher  courts  of  judicature — this 
beino-  my  maiden  plea  in  this  high  court  of  chancery. 
Yes,  please  your  honours,  when  my  want  of  age, 
knowledge  and  practice  of  the  law,  is  compared  with 
the  time-bleached  hair  on  the  heads  of  the  venerable 
judges;  [I  stand  like  an  ignis-fatuus,  faintly  glimmer- 
ing before  the  flambeau]  who  have  this  day  the  legal 
honour  to  occupy  the  bench.  Nevertheless,  says  a 
certain  writer,  "  there  is  a  stamina  in  man,  and  the 
empyrean  conservatories  of  justice  and  truth,  gives  him 
understanding."  Therefore,  may  it  please  your  vener- 
able honours,  I  still  experience  a  Roman  boldness,  in 
throwing  the  toscin,  and  bidding  a  legal  defiance  to  any 
young  or  venerable  gentleman  of  the  law,  that  either 


used  more  sensible  and  rational  arguments,  than  the  spurious, 
vague,  and  let  me  add,  worse  than  cob-web  testimony,  and 
the  sleepy  stolidity  of  the  guards,  on  which,  O  house  of 
Israel  !  you  have  with  a  spirit  surcharged  with  the  elements 
of  effervescence  ;  so  that  your  irascible  fever,  has  led  you  in 
a  rage  of  unbelief,  to  sell,  barter,  bargain,  and  dispose  of 
your  own  legitimate  and  lawful  Messiah,  Saviour,  and 
Redeemer,  for  a  Roman  soldier's  dream.  Is  it  not  then  high 
time,  ye  sons  of  Jacob,  for  you  to  lament  with  David  and 
say :  How  is  the  beauty  and  intelligence  of  Israel  fallen  ! 
tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon  ; 
lest  the  offspring  of  the  ox  and  the  ass  rejoice,  and  triumph 
over  God's  worse  than  brutish  and  besottish  children  !  who 
have  cast  off  and  forsaken  their  true  and  only  Messiah,  the 
Lamb  of  God,  who  beareth  away,  in  his  own  body  on  the 
cross,  the  sins  of  a  guilty  and  rebellious  world.  O,  ye  sons  of 
Israel !  I  say,  you  have  sold  your  Messiah  for  less  value  than 
Judas  Iscariot !  For  he,  it  appears,  covenanted,  contracted, 
bargained  and  sold  him  to  your  high  priest,  Caiaphas,  and 
his  irritable  coadjutors  in  crime,  for  tiiirty  pieces  of  silver. 
But,  O  house  of  Jacob,  ye  have  solemnly  covenanted,  con- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  375 

forensick  duty,  curiosity  or  chance,  may  have  this  day 
brought  into  court.  And  while  I  experience  the  stamina 
of  forensick  zeal  to  flow  in  my  youthful  veins,  I'll  in- 
crease the  acme  of  my  challenge,  and  throw  my  toscin 
of  defiance  against  the  whole  world,  and  bid  human 
reason  and  pompous  philosophy,  with  all  its  fastidious 
and  insidious  auxilliaries  of  serpent-like  wit  and  inge- 
nuity, propelled  with  the  perennial  currents  of  deisti- 
cal  risibility,  which  the  most  vitiated  nature  of  man 
has  the  plenary  possession  of,  to  give,  may  it  please 
your  honours,  any  other  translation  of  the  guards'  tes- 
timony, against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.  Should  your 
learned  honours,  the  judges  of  this  impartial  court, 
subject  yourselves  to  the  assidious  turmoil  of  transla- 
ting the  guards'  evidence,  into  all  the  languages  which 
are  spoken  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  if,  at  the  same  time, 
your  honours  will  gratuitously  invite  Alderman  Com- 
mon-sense on  the  forensick  binacle  before  them,  while 
your  honours  are  making  the  translation. — And  before 
I  put  my  sabre  [or  the  sword  of  the  spirit]  into  the 
sheath,  I  will  cast  my  toscin  of  defiance,  and  roundly 
challenge  the  whole  vvorld,  for  any  man,  whether  he 
be  a  Jew,  Deist,  Atheist,  a  wise  Philosopher,  Turk, 
or  Heathen,  to  give  any  other  solution  of  the  elemen- 
tary sounds  of  the  guards'  oath ;  or  any  other  explica- 
tion to  the  legal  character  of  the  language  employed 


traded,  bargained  and  sold  him,  for  to  serve  the  Gentiles,  as 
their  high  priest,  prophet,  king  and  Saviour,  at  a  more 
moderate  price,  even  for  a  Roman  soldier's  dream  !  Look, 
ye  sons  and  daughters  of  Israel,  at  the  superscription  on  the 
base  coin,  that  you  received  in  payment  for  your  Lord  and 
Master,  "  his  disciples  stole  him  while  we  slept." 

The  thoughtful  reader,  will,  I  hope,  be  in  the  possession 
of  at  least  so  much  of  the  element  of  mercy,  as  to  forgive  the 
aberrance  of  the  Stenographer,  who  has  been  guilty  so  often, 
during  the  course  of  this  trial,  in  his  gadding  so  frequently 
out  of  court,  after  those  collateral  and  circumstantial  objects, 
and  things  which  he  humbly  thought,  had  either  a  remote  or 
near  bearing  on  this  trial. 


3T6  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

by  the  watch,  when  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was 
first  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre ;  than,  please  your 
honours,  I  have  given  to  the  same,  to  day,  at  the  bar 
of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest.  When  the 
young  lawyer  paused :  at  which  the  chief  judge  rose 
and  signified  to  the  court,  that  the  hour  to  adjourn 
had  again  arrived.  So  the  court  stood  adjourned  to 
meet  in  the  same  place  the  ensuing  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


377 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The   twenty -fifth    daij  of   the  trial  of   the  robbery  of   the 
sepulchre^  of  the  cruclfed  body  of  Christ. 

And  it  cam3  to  pass,  that  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  trial,  the  doors  of  the  court 
house  being  thrown  open  at  an  early  hour,  the  court 
met  pursuant  to  adjournment ;  when  the  first  carriages 
that  arrived  in  front  of  the  portico,  brought  a  large 
squadron  of  Jewish  and  Philosophical  ladies  :  but  their 


Nos.  1.  &  2.  Jii slice  and  Trullioflcring  up  their  respective  burnt  offering, 
on  tlieir  alt-trs. 

Nos.  3.  &  4.  Reason  ami  Pliilosop'iy,  with  black  veils  over  their  faces  ;  and 
their  la(]ys!iii)s  are  rnucli  in  the  diiip.ps  tliis  mornir.s:,  at  the  youn;;  lawyer  so 
unmercifully  iin;)Ugniiio;the  guai'ds'  lestiraoiiy,  against  the  prisoner?. 

No.  5.  The  five  jud.u;es  avIio  try  this  cause. 

No.  6.  Tlie  marshal  and  sheriflT  kading  into  court  the  large  stone,  shubbcry 
and  trees  of  the  garden,  as  being,  on  the  principles  of  common  sense,  far  less 
exceptionable  witnesses  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  than  the  sleepy 
guards. 

No.  7.  The  young  Roman  barrister,  pleading  the  cause  of  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  chaiged  with  stealiiig  the  dead  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 
No.  8.    I  he  eleven  disciples  placed  in  the'old  criminal's  box  to  be  tried 
for  their  lives,  for  robbii  g  the  sepulchre. 
No.  9.  The  twelve  jurymen. 

2i* 


378  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

words  were  few ;  for  the  young  lawyer's  translation  of 
the  guards'  oath,  the  day  before,  had  in  a  great  meas- 
ure anchored  their  oscillatory  members  of  speech,  under 
a  silent  sanitary  quarantine ;  so  that  it  put  the  specta- 
tors in  mind  of  a  saying  that  is  written,  "  there  was 
silence  in  the  empyrean  regions  for  about  the  space  of 
an  half  hour."  And  when  the  young  gentlemen  went 
out  of  court  to  assist  them  to  alight,  their  words,  like 
the  iron  money  of  one  of  the  old  Grecian  states,  were 
ponderous  and  few  :  neither  were  there  any  display 
of  that  volatile  gallicism  of  style,  nor  near  so  many 
deistical  idioms  in  their  vocabulary  to  these  ladies  in 
order  to  distress  the  fearful  audibility  of  the  sheep- 
hearted  friends  of  Christ,  this  morning :  for  the  young 
attorney's  new  and  simple  mode  of  dissecting  the 
watch's  testimony,  and  then  throwing  the  elementary 
parts  of  their  evidence  into  the  language  of  common 
sense,  had  so  marvellously  dismantled  the  young  gentle- 
men of  their  usual  urbanity,  that  the  pleasing  sauvity 
of  their  style  towards  the  ladies,  appeared  to  us  this 
morning,  who  are  sailors  on  board  the  gospel  ships,  as 
if  our  young  Deistical  gentry,  were  either  sailing  under 
their  courses  or  close-reefed  topsails ;  in  consequence  of 
the  contrary  winds  from  the  clouds  and  arguments  of 
the  prisoners'  advocate ;  which  had  caused  a  head  and 
pitching  sea:  and  that  was  not  all,  for  the  young 
lawyer's  air-pumps  had  raised  clouds  of  dust,  through 
the  once  transparent  and  empyrean  regions  of  the  age 
of  reason  ;  when  there  suddenly  appeared  rising  out  of 
the  sea  of  Jewish  unbelief,  and  Deistical  and  Atheisti- 
cal infidelity,  a  few  little  ominous  clouds,  like  "a  man's 
hand ;"  which  their  forecasting  minds  did  but  dimly 
see,  through  the  smoky  glasses  in  their  telescopes. 

Now,  these  ugly  little  clouds,  appeared  to  be  rising 
out  of  the  false  sea  of  the  guards'  testimony;  which,  in 
process  of  time,  might,  for  Vv  e  know,  shipmates,  there 
is  neither  confidence  nor  certainty  to  be  placed  in  those 
angry  looking  aerial  prophets:  just  so  the  young 
lawyer's  translation  of  the  guards'  evidence,  had  spread 
clouds  and  darkness  over  the  whole  horizon  of  infidelity ; 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  379 

lest,  in  the  issuing  of  the  case  pending  at  the  bar,  the 
artful  and  insidious  young  lawyer  should,  indeed,  in- 
validate the  guards'  evidence,  which  is  all  that  is 
necessary  to  give  the  gospel  scheme  pre-eminence. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  these  young  Deistical 
gentlemen,  walked  with  a  kind  of  dead  march,  up  to 
the  carriage  doors,  and  viewing  the  sombreness  in  the 
deathly  cholera  of  eternal  damnation,  which  laid  for  the 
time  being  a  sanitary  embargo  on  their  tongues,  they 
reached  forth  their  hands  to  assist  the  ladies  to  alight ; 
and  in  solemn  silence,  inducted  them  into  the  great 
gallery. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  soon  as  the  young  ladies 
of  the  Jewish  and  Deistical  families,  of  high  blood  and 
noble  birth,  were  all  accommodated  with  seats  in  the 
great  gallery,  that  the  plain  vehicle  arrived  at  the  por- 
tico in  front  of  the  court-house,  having  on  board  the 
two  most  wise  and  scientific  ladies  of  this  mundane 
dispensation ;  that  is,  Reason  and  Philosophy :  but, 
these  aerial  sisters  were  rather  neglected ;  for  neither 
the  judges  nor  the  chief  almoner  of  the  court,  paid 
them  that  special  attention  this  morning,  they  had  pre- 
viously done ;  as  all  the  forensick  officers  of  this  court 
were  either  musing,  or  else  deeply  forecasting  in  their 
minds,  on  the  sombre  appearance  of  the  alarming  vul- 
nerableness  of  the  guards'  testimony;  for  fear  it  would 
not  stand  the  fire  of  this  youngster's  argumentative 
ordeal,  when  he  came  to  put  the  spurious  coin  into  this 
new  crucible,  to  undergo  the  melting  heat  of  Hell  fire, 
and  the  wrath  of  God,  with  this  superscription:  "His 
disciples  stole  him  while  we  slept."  So  that  it  appear- 
ed, that  this  young  lawyer  with  his  fine  sash  and  maiden 
plea,  at  the  bar  of  this  court  of  chancery,  lowered  the 
acme  of  the  judges'  finer  sensibilities  towards  those 
amiable  ladies,  Reason  and  Philosophy  :  and  that  the 
former  manifestations  of  respect  which  the  judges  and 
other  officers  of  the  court  had  publicly  paid  to  the  fair 
part  of  this  mundane  dispensation,  did  for  the  time 
being,  condense  the  mercury  in  the  thermometer  of 
their  once   [to    all   outward   appearance,]   unfeigned 


380  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

affection  to  these  two  blooming  roses,  in  the  garden  of  a 
transient  paradise,  that  had  sprung  up  under  the  genial 
warmth,  and  luminous  influence  of  the  Sun,  in  the 
empyrean  region  of  the  age  of  Reason,  when  our  young 
barrister's  arjrumentative  breath,  raised  so  many  little 
clouds,  which  were  fast  spreading  themselves  over  the 
court ;  which,  at  the  same  time,  caused  a  state  of  de- 
terioration to  take  place  in  the  once  almost  surcharged 
affections  of  the  officers  of  this  court,  towards  the  once 
superlative  graces  of  the  ladies  Reason  and  Philosophy; 
to  lower  itself  down  to  stoical  indifference  of  three 
score  years  and  ten,  quite  in  another  region,  under  the 
solstice  of  a  lono;  winter's  ni^^ht. 


A  £ew  reflections  by  the  stenographer,  on  the  state  of  the 
judges'  mind,  at  the  young  lawyer's  maiden  plea  at  the  bar 
of  this  court.  Respected  friend  and  thou;i;htful  reader,  of 
this  mysterious  and  at  the  sarpo  time  all-important  trial,  I 
humbly  ask  with  all  due  and  becoming  deference,  to  the 
national  and  theological  prepossessions  and  prejudices  of  the 
Jew,  and  the  sensual  secret  dislike  of  the  Deist,  with  his 
pleasing  system  of  sublime  ethicks,  drawn  down  from  the 
bright  clouds,  that  float  in  the  high  atmosphere  of  the  age 
of  Reason,  by  the  lightning  rod  of  unbelief,  which  he  has 
written  on  the  telegraph  of  vanity,  against  the  high  claims 
of  Christ  and  his  gospel.  And  the  wise  Atheist  I  will  not 
forget ;  but  with  that  humble  and  becoming  respect  for  his 
ideal  gods  of  im^rt  matter,  or  that  our  mundane  system  and 
dispensation  are  eternal.  I  say,  this  wonderful  triumvirate 
of  profound  wisdom  may,  if  the  three  wise  Doctors  please, 
carry  their  opposition  to  Christ  and  his  church  on  earth,  to 
the  most  plenary  acme  of  the  pugnacious  fever,  of  their 
minds  and  hearts  against  him.  But  with  all  due  respect  to 
the  three  Doctors  we  have  alluded  to :  to  wit — Messieurs 
Jew,  Deist  and  Atheist,  let  the  poor  sailor  who  has  taken 
up  the  goose-quill  to  be  the  amanuensis  of  this  trial,  humbly 
ask  these  three  gentlemen,  What  will  the  icy  feelings  of 
your  chagrined  hearts  and  astounded  souls  be,  if  in  the  final 
issue  of  this  trial,  this  young  lawyer  should  be  fortunate 
enough  to  prove  beyond  mathematical  demonstration,  and  also 
by  the  most  irrefragable  testimony  and  indubitable  evidence : 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  381 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  ladies'  footman  had  to 
assist  them  to  alight  out  of  their  plain  carriage,  with 
their  two  secretaries  ;  which  were  all  the  retinue  that 
formed  their  private  legation  :  when  the  ladies,  Reason 
and  Philosophy,  went  attended  only  by  their  two  ladies' 
honour.  Unbelief  and  Hardness  of  heart,  into  their 
small  gallery,  and  quietly  took  their  seats,  lowering 
their  royals,  or  if  our  marine  simile  by  our  modern 
ladies  is  not  perfectly  comprehended,  they  let  fall  their 
black  veils,  in  order  to  conceal  their  expressive  counte- 

if,  I  say,  (the  reader  may  indeed  smile  at  my  many  tautolo- 
gous  premises  and  categorical  corollaries,)  this  young  stran- 
ger should,  in  the  sequel  of  this  trial,  before  this  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  make  it  manifest  to  all  men,  that  the  eleven 
disciples,  the  chained  prisoners  at  the  bar,  did  not  steal  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre  :  but,  that  this 
said  Christ  did  go  out  of  the  silent  grave,  by  a  latent  and 
divine  power,  which  he  had  (in  his  hypostasis  nature)  in- 
herent in  himself,  independent  of  any  other  being  ;  therefore, 
from  this  hypothetical  position,  I  shall  again  most  unmerci- 
fully impugn  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  these  three  afore- 
named gentlemen  ;  to  wit :  the  Jew,  Deist,  and  their  dear 
kinsman  the  Atheist,  with  another  of  my  tautologous  con- 
clusions :  and  humbly  ask  my  three  scoffing  and  risible  old 
shipmates,  on  board  the  ship  of  time,  while  you  are  sailing 
over  the  boisterous  seas  of  this  mundane  dispensation,  my 
simple  inference  is  this  :  That  if  Christ  rose  from  the  dead, 
for  I  wish  to  pester  the  reader's  mind  with  my  monstrous  re- 
marks on  this  point,  and  no  other  of  the  theological  compass 
of  the  gospel ;  that  the  whole  colossus  of  the  truth  of  the 
bible,  or  revealed  religion,  rests  :  so  that  its  grand  and  car- 
dinal truth  is  no  more  affected,  with  the  multiform  formularies 
in  use  in  the  christian  church,  and  the  multifarious  views 
which  mankind  have  taken  of  the  nature,  attributes,  and 
character  of  Christ ;  nor  the  discrepancies  of  the  views,  that 
the  various  divisions  into  which  the  outward  church  of  Christ 
has  fallen,  in  their  theological  disquisition  on  shades  or  points 
of  doctrine  :  We  say,  shipmates,  these  trifling  and  minor 
syllogisms  of  the  schools,  which  the  imperfect  views,  that 
the  poor  plebeian  followers  of  Christ  have  taken,  during  the 
sombre  ages  of  a  dense  and  cymmerian  dispensation,  of  the 


382  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

nances.  And  it  is  worthy  of  special  notice  this  morn- 
ing, that  neither  the  finger  of  scorn  by  lady  Carnal 
Reason,  nor  the  telescope  of  philosophical  vanity,  by 
her  dear  sister  lady  Philosophy,  were  to  be  seen  this 
day  in  court.  And  no  sooner  were  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  the  galleries  all  seated,  than  the  five 
judges,  and  all  the  other  forensick  gentlemen,  with  all 
the  other  civil  officers  had  arrived  and  taken  their  legal 
stations,  when  the  chief  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  the 
high  sheriff  of  Rome  made  their  appearance  before  the 


clouds  of  ignorance  and  gross  darkness,  so  that  when  the 
church  first  began  her  emersion  from  behind  this  dense 
bank  of  the  clouds  of  superstition,  which  so  long  obscu- 
rated  the  radiant  light  of  the  true  Son  of  righteousness,  from 
his  spiritual  church  :  I  say,  is  it  any  wonder  then,  thought- 
ful reader,  that  some  of  his  followers  should  have  made 
choice  of  one  mode  of  outward  worship,  and  others  draw 
different  corollaries  respecting  the  nature  and  character  of 
his  person ;  and  that  others,  also,  should  be  led  to  form  diff- 
erent views  of  the  ethicks,  dogmas,  and  design  of  the  gospel  ? 
But  these  minor  things,  however  we  mourn  over  and  lament 
them ;  yet,  they  no  more,  as  we  have  just  said,  affect  the 
grand  question  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  and  the  immortality 
of  the  whole  world,  than  the  different  languages  spoken  by 
the  tribes  and  nations  of  the  earth,  go  to  prove  that  they  are 
not  intelligent  and  rational  beings ;  or  that  the  different  com- 
plexions of  the  human  race,  with  the  discrepancies  in  their 
modes,  customs  and  habits  of  living,  would  be  a  mathematical 
demonstration,  that  their  physical  existence  is  not  derived, 
and  daily  supported  by  the  same  natural  sun  in  our  heavens  : 
we  say,  the  same  sun,  as  a  creature  of  God,  gives  life  and 
vitality  to  all  mankind  ;  let  their  geographical  location  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  be  where  it  may  ;  and  their  condition, 
as  it  regards  civilization  or  not,  be  what  it  may  :  just  so  with 
regard  to  the  cardinal  point  at  issue  in  this  trial.  For  if 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  as  Paul  says  ;  then,  and  in  that 
case,  the  solemn  seal  of  Heaven  is  set  on  his  person  and 
character,  that  he  is  the  only  true  and  laivful  Messiah  of  the 
Jews  ;  and  is  ordained  of  God  to  open  the  flood-gates,  and 
pour  out  an  overflowing  cataract  of  the  wrath  of  Almighty 
God,  on  all  the  risible  Deists  and  Atheists,  in  the  christian 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  383 

portico,  and  entered  the  court — bringing  in  the  state's 
prisoners,  for  the  last  time  they  were  to  be  jeopardized 
for  their  lives.  And  when  they  had  placed  the  eleven 
disciples  of  Christ  in  the  old  criminal's  box,  before  the 
bar  of  the  court,  the  marshal  and  sheriff  withdrew. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  now  being  all  in 
solemn  session,  and  silence  for  some  time  having  embar- 
goed the  vibrating  apparatus  of  the  young  Jewish  and 
Deistical  gentlemen  and  ladies,  in  the  great  gallery,  and 
also  laid  a  solemn  levy  on  the  more  delicate  oscillatory 
members,  and  the  argumentative  powers  of  ladies 
Reason  and  Philosophy,  in  the  small  gallery — w^hen 
the  young  attorney  rose  and  resumed  his  former  plea 
against  the  guards'  testimony;  and  facing  the  judges 
and  the  jury,  with  a  glow  of  scintillating  fire  in  his 

world  !  And  then,  ye  scoffing  gentlemen,  with  one  of  the  per- 
secutors of  his  church,  you  will  in  your  dying  moments,  or 
when  your  once  risible  ghost  awakes  in  eternity,  exclaim, 
Thou  Gahlean,  hast  in  all  points  of  the  moral  compass,  the 
most  decided  pre-eminence. 

The  intelligent  and  thoughtful  reader  will  once  more  par- 
don the  poor  sailor's  falling  off  the  wind^s  eye  of  court  busi- 
ness, and  easing  away  the  sheets  and  slacking  the  bow  lines, 
and  squaring  his  yards,  in  order  to  give  chase  to  a  large 
fleet,  commanded  by  admiral  Jew,  vice-adrfjiral  Deist,  and 
real-admiral  Atheist.  But,  as  most  of  their  ships  were  fast 
sailers,  the  poor  sailor  on  board  the  gospel  ship,  which  in 
consequence  of  many  storms,  during  a  long  voyage  of 
eighteen  hundred  years,  had  collected  a  number  of  barnicles 
and  other  small  sea-shells,  with  no  small  quantity  of 
sea-grass  on  the  bottom  of  the  ship,  which  greatly  retard- 
ed her  way  through  the  water ;  therefore,  when  he  had 
given  chase  a  few  hours,  and  found  he  could  not  overhaul 
them,  he  fired  his  lonnr  bow-chasers,  loaded  with  the  amuni- 
tion  from  the  arsenal  of  Hell  fire  ;  and  then  hauled  his  wind 
and  sailed  into  court  again  ;  and  now  promises  the  reader, 
that  he  will  not  give  chase  any  more,  till  this  trial  shall  come 
to  an  issue,  one  way  or  the  other ;  that  is,  till  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  charged  and  indicted  with  robbing  the  sepulchre, 
are  either  condemned  or  finally  acquitted. 


384  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

forensick  countenance,  which  the  lightning  rod  of  un- 
sophisticated logick,  had  drawn  from  off  the  hallowed 
altars  of  truth  and  justice:  said,  may  it  please  your 
honours  the  judges,  with  the  wise  and  I  trust  impartial 
jury,  which  by  the  indulgence  of  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  this  trial,  I  have,  to  the  best  of  my  legal 
judgment,  selected  from  the  different  citizens  of  the 
empire  :  to  wit — two  Doctors  of  the  Jewish  theism ; 
two  Deistical  Doctors  of  natural  Philosophy ;  two 
Doctors  who  have  received  a  finished  education  in  the 
sleepy  school  of  inert  matter  ;  who  are  by  some  people 
surnamed  Doctor  Atheist  ;  two  Doctors  of  the  Turkish 
amphibious  theology ;  two  of  Heathen  mythology  ;  and 
two  of  christian  Divinity.  Thus  the  court  may  see,  in 
the  selection  of  a  new  jury  to  try  this  mysterious  cause, 
(that  has  rather  perplexed  mankind  so  long,)  I  have 
acted  with  as  little  partiality  as  possible,  under  the 
pressing  difficulties  and  emergencies  of  the  case  :  and 
please  your  honours,  having  obtained  a  jury  affirmed 
and  panelled,  somewhat  satisfactory  to  my  mind  ; 
therefore,  I  shall  proceed  a  little  out  of  the  tract  of 
forensick  argumentation,  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court 
of  law  and  inquest,  and  if  it  is  not  rather  a  little  inde- 
corous at  this  serious  stage  of  the  trial,  when  the  lives 
of  eleven  of  the  citizens  of  the  Roman  empire  are  pend- 
ing at  its  solemn  bar,  I  do,  please  your  honours,  expe- 
rience as  the  counsellor  in  the  behalf  of  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  a  powerful  predilection,  to  indulge  the  volatile 
scintillations  of  my  mind,  and  the  flowing  vivacity  of 
my  spirits,  in  the  presence  of  this  court  in  the  use  of 
oblique  irony.  But,  may  it  please  your  honours,  the 
latent  object  I  have  in  view,  in  my  legal  levity  at  the 
bar  of  this  solemn  court  is,  that  I  may  press  home  with 
the  ironical  screw  of  my  forensick  jokes,  the  imperious 
necessity  ^f  removing  this  deteriorating  dispensation 
of  legal  imbecility,  which  has  overcast  with  a  sombre- 
ness  the  antecedent  fame  of  this  high  court  of  Areopa- 
gus, which  it  is  this  day  labouring  under.  Therefore, 
in  order  to  shore  up  the  tottering  walls  cf  its  former 
colossean  glory,  and  its  tenacious  adhesion  to  inviolably 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  385 

administer  impartial  justice  to  all  men;  therefore  I  shall, 
in  order  to  place  the  illegal  aberrance  of  your  learn- 
ed honours,  from  the  obvious  path  of  duty,  during  the 
time  of  the  past  session  of  the  court,  Avhich  has  been 
occupied  in  the  case  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
proceed  in  the  use  of  my  ironical  category,  both  hum- 
bly and  obsequiously  pray  the  judges  of  this  court,  to 
immediately  issue  out  from  the  bench,  a  writ  of  caption 
or  bench  warrant,  and  forthwith  place  the  same  in  the 
hands  of  the  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  the  high  sheriff 
of  Rome,  and  that  they  be  duly  empowered  to  take 
with  them  all  the  small  satellites  of  the  law,  that  re- 
volve round  them,  as  the  two  primary  orbs.  And  may 
it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  that  this  civil  trium- 
virate be  sent  to  the  garden,  hard  by  the  cross  on 
which  this  strange  and  mysterious  being  called  Christ, 
was  crucified;  and  let  the  foregoing  officers  of  justice 
serve  legal  process,  first  on  the  large  stone  which  had 
been  sealed  on  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchre ;  secondly, 
on  the  fruit  and  other  large  trees  where  the  new  sepul- 
chre is  located  ;  and,  thirdly,  on  the  small  shrubbery 
in  the  garden.  And  now  may  it  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  with  this  wise  and  profound  jury, 
to  indulge  me  to  say,  that  this  small  triumvirate  of 
irrational  things,  from  out  of  the  garden  where  the 
sepulchre,  and  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  were,  by 
the  sanitary  laws  of  Jewish  unbelief,  quarantined  in 
the  foul  waters  of  death — would,  please  your  honours, 
constitute  a  far  more  legal  and  indubitable  witness 
against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  than  the  testimony  of 
the  Roman  soldiers.  And  as  I  have  no  doubt,  but  that 
your  honours'  minds,  are  calmly  viewing  the  character 
and  nature  of  my  irrational  evidence,  and  perhaps  are 
ready  to  object  to  the  relevancy  of  my  unforensick 
remarks ;  which  may,  at  the  first  sight,  appear  like  a 
wild  uncourtly  monster.  But,  please  your  honours,  be 
that  as  it  may ;  yet,  I  experience  it  to  be  my  duty  to 
pray  the  indulgence  of  this  court,  to  calmly  and  dis- 
passionately hear,  and  weigh  the  reason  and  argument 

2k 


386  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

which  I  am  prepared  humbly  to  submit  at  the  bar,  in 
the  behalf  of  the  three  harmless  witnesses,  which  con- 
stitute this  innocent  band  of  evidence  ;  to  wit :  the 
stone,  trees,  and  the  shrubbery  of  the  garden.  And 
please  your  honours,  from  the  patient  aspect  which  I 
this  morning  behold  in  the  countenances  of  the  judges 
and  jury,  I  shall  consider  it  as  a  gratuitous  expression 
of  the  rife  desire  of  your  honours,  that  both  the  time 
and  patience  of  this  court  will  be  cheerfully  granted ; 
while  I  shall  illustrate  and  explain  this  singular  pheno- 
mena, or  if  your  honours  please,  new  forensick  testi- 
mony. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges  and 
jury,  that  my  argument  in  favour  of  these  harmless 
witnesses,  that  is  :  that  the  stone,  trees,  and  shrubbery, 
would  be  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  more  legal  witnesses, 
than  the  guards'  story,  which  we  prove  as  follows ;  to 
wit — That  this  small  association  of  animate  and  in- 
animate things,  which  under  some  special  and  peculiar 
circumstances  are  admitted  at  the  bar  of  our  courts, 
either  as  collateral  or  circumstantial  evidence,  in  many 
cases  where  positive  evidence  is  wanting.  And  in 
order  to  refresh'  the  memory  and  audibility  of  your 
honours  the  judges,  with  this  wise  and  learned  jury  of 
doctors,  from  all  the  systems  of  theism,  of  theology, 
and  mythology  in  the  world,  I  am  once  more  bold  in 
saying,  that  this  little  tribe  of  the  stone,  the  trees,  and 
the  shrubbery,  have  not  acted  like  the  Roman  guards, 
viz.  come  into  court  and  before  our  altars,  in  the 
presence  of  our  empyrean  rulers,  at  the  bar  of  this  high 
court  of  chancery,  under  the  sacredness  and  solemn 
sanction  of  their  affirmation,  and  in  the  presence  of 

A  note  to  the  reader. — The  young  attorney  on  the  side  of 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  by  the  rules  of  common  sense,  does 
most  indubitably  prove,  both  to  Jews,  Deists,  and  Atheists, 
that  the  stone,  trees,  and  shrubbery  of  the  garden,  are  a  far 
more  substantial  and  reputable  witnesses  against  Christ  rising 
from  t\ie  dead,  than  the  guards,  Caiaphas,  and  the  whole 
nation  of  the  Jews'  report  to  this  day. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  *i07 

your  honours  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury ;  and  in  the 
most  absolute  language,  entirely  disqualify  and  dis- 
franchise themselves  as  Roman  citizens,  from  being  any 
kind  of  evidence  whatsoever,  either  of  a  positive,  pre- 
sumptive, circumstantial,  collateral,  parole,  or  even 
exparta  character,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar. 
Therefore,  the  conclusion  is  this,  that  this  little  animate 
and  inanimate  association  of  harmless  witnesses,  of  the 
stone,  trees,  and  shrubbery,  would  be  a  thousand  times 
more  substantial  testimony  at  the  bar  of  this  court,  who 
were  the  artful  knaves,  or  the  notorious  and  sacrilegious 
villains,  that  robbed  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body 

of  Chriat,  thanH;bo  al^epy  etolidity  of  the  blind  guards, 

and  Caiaphas  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  and  this  enlightened  jury,  my  legal  conclusion 
is,  and  I  shall  humbly  persuade  myself,  that  the  united 
wisdom  and  profound  knowledge  of  this  court,  will 
most  candidly  flow  into  the  same  just  conclusion,  in 
order  to  allow  me  sufficient  sea-room  and  depth  of  legal 
water,  to  sail  my  maiden  plea  safely  past  the  hidden 
rocks,  false  sand  bars,  and  the  barbed  heads  of  their 
insidious  sunken  chevaux-de-frise  ;  w'hich,  may  it  please 
your  honours,  the  judges  and  the  jury,  the  guards  have 
placed  in  the  way  of  the  innocency  of  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar  of  this  court. 

Therefore,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  this  profound  jury,  Caiaphas  the  high 
priest  of  the  Jews,  by  taking  him  at  his  own  words, 
and  public  declarations  to  the  whole  world — that  is,  as 
his  holiness,  from  the  sleepy  stolidity  of  the  guards' 
testimony,  affirm,  were  all  asleep,  or  in  an  entire  state 
of  insensibility.  Then,  please  your  honours,  the  simple 
inference  I  shall  draw,  is  this  :  that  neither  his  holiness, 
the  guards,  nor  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  people,  knew 
not,  from  their  own  words  and  solemn  testimony, 
whether  or  not  it  were  a  hungry  and  ferocious  leopard, 
that  sprung  from  off*  one  of  the  large  trees  in  the  garden, 
and  carried  off"  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  into  his  den, 
at  the  base  of  one  of  the  rocky  mountains  in  the  land 


388 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


of  Israel !  I  beseech  the  court  to  patiently  indulge  me 
with  a  few  moments  time,  in  order  to  give  a  few  more 
turns  to  my  ironical  screw.  Therefore,  I  shall  humbly 
ask  your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  thiswise 
and  scientific  jury,  whether,  perchance,  it  were  a  poor 
solitary  half-starved  jackal,  whom  his  hungry  master 
the  lion,  had  sent  out  early  that  morning,  to  look  through 
the  vineyards  and  pasture  grounds  of  the  husbandmen 
of  Israel,  for  a  lamb  or  kid,  or  a  tender  calf,  that  laid 
at  a  little  distance  from  the  farm-houses ;  so  that  he 
might  come  and  carry  it  off  to  dine  on  that  day  ;  when 
this  marauding  little  servant,  seeing  this  solitary  garden, 
mistook  the  same  for  a  vineyard  :  and  observing  a  vast 
number  of  trees  and  shrubbery  in  it,  when  this  nefa- 
rious, or,  if  your  honours  please,  nightly  pedestrious 
servant  of  the  monarch  of  the  forest,  crept  in  under  the 
garden  gate,  just  at  that  very  auspicious  moment,  when 


Nos.  1.  &  2.  Truth  and  Justice  offering  up  their  respective  burnt  offerings 
on  their  altars. 

Nos.  3.  &  4.  Reason  and  Pliilosophy,  witli  black  veils  over  their  faces,  and 
the  ladies  are  ratlier  in  low  spirits,  at  the  new  manner  the  young  lawyer 
undertakes  to  settle  this  long  war  of  controversy. 

No.  5.  The  five  judges  who  try  this  cause. 

J^o.  6.  The  young  attorney,  who  pleads  the  prisoners  cause^ 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  389 

the  guards  had,  to  a  man  fallen  asleep !  when  the 
little  jackal,  please  your  honours,  seeing  sixteen  Roman 
soldiers,  gently  placed  by  the  nebulous  queen,  in  a  state 
of  somnolency,  in  every  direction  round  the  sepulchre ; 
when,  at  the  same  time,  the  oderous  effluvium  of  the 
dead  body  of  Christ,  came  immediately  in  close  contact 
with  his  alfactory  nerves  ;  when  the  little  animal  in  a 
soliloquy  reasoned  thus :  What  a  most  delicious  feast 
this  crucified  man  would  make,  for  the  king,  my  old 
master  !  who,  like  one  Isaac,  is  extravagantly  fond  of 
savoury  meat :  when  the  jackal  crept  out  of  the  garden, 
and  then  with  the  fleetness  of  a  hart,  flew  to  the  old 
lion^s  den — when  his  master  rushed  down  from  the 
mountain,  and  springing  over  the  wall  of  the  garden, 
where  he  found  the  guards  fast  asleep :  when  the  old 
lion  broke  the  royal  seal,  took  off  the  stone,  entered  the 
sepulchre,  and  went  off  with  the  crucified  body  of  Christ, 
leaving  the  watch  as  he  found  them  all  fast  asleep ! ! ! 
And  when  he  arrived  at  his  den,  he  like  Isaac,  ordered 
his  servants  to  make  savoury  meat  of  this  valuable 
prize.  And  after  this  monarch  of  the  forest,  with  his 
beloved  consort  the  lioness,  or  otherwise,  lady  Belzebub 
and  her  two  daughters,  Reason  and  Philosophy,  had 
dined  and  drank  their  wine,  and  offered  up  of  the  same 
in  a  libation  to  the  sleepy  muse,  as  their  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  goddess  for  this  act  of  her  special  provi- 
dence, in  sending  this  dispensation  of  sleepy  stolidity 
on  the  guards :  and  also  her  directing  the  wandering 
feet  of  his  servant  the  jackal,  to  the  garden  and  sepul- 
chre, at  this  auspicious  moment.  And  when  the  royal 
family  had  feasted  themselves,  on  the  body  of  this  sweet 
and  delicious  (Lamb  of  God,  who  beareth  away  the 
sins  of  the  world,)  prize,  the  lion's  old  faithful  servant, 
the  jackal,  was  benignly  indulged  to  partake  of  the 
fragments  that  remained  of  this  feast. 

But,  to  continue  pressing  the  subject,  by  turning  my 
ironical  screw  a  few  times  more,  I  again  ask  your 
learned  honours  the  judges,  with  the  twelve  Doctors 
who  are  in  the  jury  box,  (who  represent  all  the  wisdom 
of  this  world,)  whether,  perchance,  it  might  not  have 

2k* 


890  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

been  an  obreptitious,  or  if  the  court  prefer  the  idea  as 
more  forensick,  a  sly  Hyena,  of  whom  naturalists  in- 
form us,  please  your  honours,  is  both  in  its  habits  and 
profession,  a  perfect  Anthropophagi;  and  that  this 
grave  digging  Hyena  came,  while  the  watch  were  all 
fast  asleep,  and  with  its  long  excavating  claws  had  re- 
duced the  stone  to  a  perfect  state  of  pulverization ;  and 
then  forced  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre,  and  went  off  with  the  same  to  its  lurking 
place,  in  the  midst  of  the  solitary  mansions  of  the  dead: 
and  then  called  his  friends  and  neighbours  of  the  Hyena 
family  together,  to  feast  on  the  most  delicious  fare,  that 
were  ever  before  caught  in  the  trap  of  sin  and  death, 
within  the  dark  purlieu  of  the  king  of  terrors. 

But  to  proceed,  as  I  am  sailing  along  the  iron  bound 
coast  of  death,  in  chase  of  these  marauding  pirates,  who 
have  committed  this  horrid  deed ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
please  the  court,  viewing  all  the  sable  wonders  that  are 
more  or  less  located  along  this  dreary  shore,  and  sur- 
veying the  diflferent  agents  by  which  this  surreption, 
perchance,  might  have  been  made,  [which  has  confound- 
ed the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind,]  for  all  that  the 
guards,  Caiaphas,  and  the  Jews  know,  of  the  soul-dis- 
tressing loss  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre.  Therefore,  by  turning  my  screw  a  few 
rounds,  may  it  please  the  court,  perhaps  this  insidious 
surreption  were  made  by  a  flock  of  hungry  vultures! 
As  your  honours  well  know,  that  naturalists  inform 
us,  that  their  vision  and  scent  is  said  to  be  very  keen ! 
Now,  these  vultures  might,  in  humble  imitation  "  of  the 
leprous  men  at  the  gate  of  Samaria,  have  entered  into 
some  loquacious  remarks  on  their  starving  condition ; 
or  more  forensickly  speaking,  they  went  into  some  in- 
terlocutory discussion  with  each  other,  and  said.  Why 
set  we  here  on  these  barren  mountains  of  the  land  of 
Israel,  till  we  die  with  hunger!"  let  us  fly  to  the  garden, 
where  the  sepulchre  is,  that  at  this  very  moment  con- 
tains the  dead  body  of  Christ ;  and,  peradv^enture,  we 
shall  find  the  watch  all  fest  asleep ;  and  then  my  hun- 
gry brethren,  [scoffing  sinner,  says  God,  "  ask  the  fishes, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  391 

of  the  sea,  and  the  birds  of  the  air,"  and  they  will  teach 
you  how  to  reason  like  men,]  we'll  feast  ourselves  to  a 
degree  of  satiety,  on  that  delicious  fare,  viz.  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ,  which,  Pilate,  Caiaphas,  and  the 
centurion,  have  placed  in  the  sepulchre  :  for  there  is  no 
doubt,  said  the  king  of  the  flock  of  vultures,  but  we 
shall  find  the  royal  guards,  all  fast  enclosed  in  the 
soothing  embrace  of  the  sleepy  goddess  ! ! 

But,  lest  I  should  weary  the  patience  of  the  court, 
and  through  it,  as  a  forensick  channel,  the  audibility 
and  refined  sensibilities  of  modern  infidelity,  with  my 
puns  and  ironical  levies  on  its  legal  indulgence,  I  shall 
only  lay  one  or  two  more  short  sanitary  quarantines  on 
your  honours  the  judges  and  jury's  patience,  and  hum- 
bly pray  the  court,  in  the  rife  but  borrowed  language 
of  a  Jewish  patriarch,  to  the  empyrean  ruler,  and  say : 
"  behold  now,  I  have  taken  on  me  the  onerous  responsi- 
bility to  speak  unto  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
and  this  learned  and  scientific  jury,  who  are  but  dust 
and  ashes ;  therefore,  be  not  angry,  peradventure,"  it 
might  have  been  some  one  or  more  of  the  Anthropo- 
phagi club  of  ancient  epicures,  who  are  a  set  of  gor- 
mandising gentlemen,  whose  highest  felicity  consists  in 
feasting  on  human  flesh :  I  say,  these  gentlemen,  who 
sail  under  the  flowing  banners  of  this  rife  motto,  "  let 
us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die,"  hearing  of  so 
rich  a  boon  as  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  might  (for 
all  the  watch  knew,)  have  come  while  they  were  all  fast 
asleep,  and  made  this  surreptitious  invasion  on  the 
sepulchre,  and  went  off*  with  this  delicious  repast ! ! 
But,  lastly,  whether,  please  this  court,  it  were  not  some 
of  our  physicians,  who  belong  to  the  butking-club; 
indulge  my  impugning  parable  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
of  law  and  inquest,  over  the  sad  loss  of  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre  ;  to  say  that  it  might 
happen  in  the  course  of  events,  tjiat  a  small  company 
of  modern  resurrection  gentlemen,  viewing  through 
their  auguring  telescope  the  flight  of  this  flock  of  starv- 
ing vultures,  might  perchance  have  taken  the  wise  and 
timely  hint,  by  steering  in  the  wake  of  their  flight  with 


392  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

their  canvass-bag  to  the  garden,  and  put  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  in  the  same :  and  under  the  canopy  of 
the  empire  of  darkness,  went  off  with  the  deathly  prize, 
into  the  dissecting-room  of  philosophical  vanity ;  and 
then  send  a  polite  card  of  assignation  to  carnal  Reason 
and  vam  rulosophy,  to  come  with  all  possible  speed 
to  the  glorious  sight  of  this  conquered  enemy,  in  order 
to  dissect  their  prize. 

And  now,  please  this  high  and  impartial  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  I  have  gone  through  with  my  impugn- 
ing parable,  and  shall  lay  aside  my  onerous  screw,  on 
the  wonderful  evidence  that  the  guards  gave  in  at  the 
bar  of  this  court. 

And  now,  it  only  remains  for  me  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  my  official  duty,  in  the  behalf  of  the  disciples' 
innocency,  for  me  to  pray  your  honours  the  judges,  and 
the  learned  jury  in  the  box,  that  infidelity  may  be  for 
ever  driven  out  of  this  court. 

I  shall  now,  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
with  this  wise  and  scientific  jury,  and  all  the  other 
learned  gentlemen  who  constitute  the  law  elements  of 
this  court,  both  humbly  and  obsequiously  pray,  that 
these  poor  illiterate  fishermen,  who  were  by  their  old 
master  taken  from  the  sea,  or  rather  lake  of  Galilee, 
and  who  are  now  held  as  prisoners  in  durance  at  the 
bar  of  this  court,  charged  first  by  the  guards  ;  and 
secondly  by  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  with  his  whole 
nation  to  this  day ;  and  lastly  by  the  Deists,  and  Philo- 
sophers of  modern  times,  with  the  sacrilegious  robbery 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  There- 
fore, may  it  please  this  court,  to  indulge  me  as  the 
advocate  and  counsel  for  the  defendants,  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  to  declare  to  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that  I  do  most 
seriously  believe,  both  in  law^  and  equity,  that  the 
eleven  disciples  of  Christ  are  all  entirely  clear  and  in- 
nocent, of  all  the  groundless  charges,  allegations  and 
specifications,  that  the  states-attorney  had  so  onerously 
endeavoured,  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  to  charge 
against  them;  and  which  your  learned  honours,  with 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  393 

this  enlightened  and  scientific  jury,  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  this  court,  do  this 
day,  no  doubt  clearly  see  with  me,  that  the  states- 
general's  charges  in  the  indictment,  is  merely  predica- 
ted on  a  baseless  fabrication — having  no  other  solidity 
than  the  postulatory  declaration  of  the  sleeping  guards; 
or,  if  it  is  not  irrelevant  in  the  case  before  the  bar  of 
this  court,  I  shall  say  this  nonsensical  report  of  the 
sleepy  guards. 

And  please  your  learned  honours,  as  it  is  somewhat 
oppressive,  by  the  unusual  heat  of  a  long  summer's  day, 
and  I  experience   a  little   exhaustion   through   much 
eppnkino[,  which  I  perceive  is  obreptitiously  entering 
within  the  purlieu  of  my  physical  nature — so  that   I 
perceive  a  state  of  collapse,  or  at  least  a  state  of  lassi- 
tude, will  very  soon  place  me  on  a  consopiation  throne, 
in  order  to  relieve  my  system :  therefore,  I  shall  now, 
please  your  honours,  move  this  court,  that  a  plenary 
discharge,  and  a  full  acquittal  be  forthwith  given  to . 
thfi  prisnnprs  at  the  bar,  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ; 
and  that  their  plaintiffs,  the  Jews,  Deists,  and  Atheists, 
who  love  the  coindication  of  the  nubiferous  dispensa- 
tion, be  by  this  court  fully  immersed  with  the  costs  of 
prosecution,  and  all  other  court  charges.  And  I  further 
beseech  this  court,  that  this  bill,  that  contains  this  pos- 
tulatum,  this  groundless  and  illegal  charge,  first  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ; 
secondly,  against  the  divine  nature  and  person  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  thirdly,  against  the  christian  theology  at 
large. — My  prayer  this  day,  to  this  court  of  law  and 
inquest  is,  that  this  foolish  and  nonsensical  bill,  be  by 
the  wise  and  learned  judges  of  this  court,   entirely 
ignoramused,  and  then  thrown  under  the  table  for  the 
dormice,  (who  frequent  the  ephemeral  barns  of  Doctor 
Deist,  and  the  sleepy  Doctor  Atheist — for  those  dear 
little  animals)  to  feast  on,  to  a  degree  of  satiety,  for- 
ever :  whose  rife  and  daily  motto,  please  your  honours 
and  the  jury,  is  written  on  their  unfurled  banners  by 
the  tangible  pen  of  sensuality,   in  glowing  colours; 
^'  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die," 


394  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

And  now,  may  it  graciously  please  your  learned 
honours  the  judges,  and  I  trust  impartial  jury,  with  all 
the  learned  civilians  of  the  Roman  bar,  that  are  this 
day  within  the  purlieu  of  this  high  court  of  chancery : 
I  shall  humbly  beseech  you  collectively,  as  you  are  all 
in  solemn  session,  to  grant  the  devout  and  unfeigned 
prayer  of  your  humble  and  obsequious  civilian;  who,  if 
the  empyrean  ruler  knows  his  heart,  and  he  is  in  the 
plenary  possession  of  old  Roman  conscientiousness,  to 
wit :  please  this  court,  that  I  have  acted  in  the  cause 
that  has  been  so  long  pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
purely  on  the  high  principles  of  Roman  charity  and 
legal  philanthropy,  in  the  behalf  of  so  good  and  so  just 
a  cause ;  and  the  which,  after  so  long  cind  arSuoiis  a 
trial,  1  hope  vvill  issue  in  fully  sustaining  the  antecedent 
glory  of  this  court  of  Areopagus.  And  from  the 
auspicious  coindication,  which  the  expressive  index  of 
clemency,  I  have  the  almost  inexpressible  pleasure  of 
beholding  this  day,  in  the  placid  countenances  of  this 
c^urt ;  which  gives  me  a  legal  connaence,  which  I  per- 
ceive is  as  it  were  rising  almost  to  the  acme  of  affiance  ; 
so  that  I  shall  gratuitously  persuade  myself,  that  my 
arduous  forensick  labour  at  the  bar  of  this  high  court  of 
law  and  inquest,  has  not  been  in  vain  :  and  that  it  will 
ultimately  eventuate,  in  proving  the  rectitude  of  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar — in  obtaining  the  full  justification 
of  their  persons  and  characters,  in  my  having  fully 
satisfied  this  court,  and  indulge  me  to  add,  the  w^hole 
world  of  intelligent  and  rational  beings,  of  the  innocency 
of  the  eleven  disciples  of  Christ  Therefore,  I  have 
but  one  small  request  to  make,  on  the  justice  and  equity 
of  this  court :  the  motion  I  shall  now  present  to  the  bar, 
is  this  :  that  it  may  proceed  forthwith  to  honourably 
discharge  the  eleven  prisoners  at  the  bar,  called  the 
disciples  of  (/hrist,  from  all  future  vexation  and  legal 
distress,  either  in  their  persons,  characters,  or  estates  ; 
or  in  any  longer  durance  at  the  bar  of  this  or  any  other 
court  of  law  and  equity  in  the  Roman  empire,  or 
throughout  the  whole  civilized  world,  from  this  time 
henceforth,  and  forevermore.  When  the  young  advo- 
cate sat  down. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


395 


When  the  chief  judge  rose  and  taking  the  young 
lawyer  by  the  hand,  paid  him  a  very  handsome  com- 
pliment, for  his  rife  activity  in  his  legal  profession, 
in  placing  his  maiden  plea  before  the  court :  and  said  he 
had  illlustrated  the  precocious  signs  which  the  young 
ladies  of  his  country  foresaw  of  his  future  abilities,  in 
the  able  defence  of  the  innocence  of  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar ;  and  that  he  had  fully  feasted  the  judges  and 
court,  with  a  basket  of  those  rich  prodromas,  from  off 
his  early  figtree,  in  consequence  of  the  new  ground  of 
his   impugning  logic,  and  sarcastical  remarks,  which 


Nos.  1.  2.  &  3.  Justice,  Mercy  and  Truth,  ascending  into  the  fire  of  their 
respective  altars  to  the  empyi'can  regions,  where  they  meet  together  and  re- 
joice that  the  disciples  are  all  true  men,  the  sons  of  one  common  Father,  "who 
is  the  God  of  Truth,  and  are  closely  related  by  adoption  to  Joseph  their 
younger  brother  in  the  flesh;  but  who,  in  the  essence  of  his  divine  nature,  is 
co-eval  and  co-equal  with  God  :  that  is  Jesus  Christ. 

No.  4.  The  chief  judge  compliments  the  young  lawyer,  for  having  cleared 
the  eleven  disciples  from  the  charge  of  stealing  the  crucified  body  of  Clirist 
out  of  the  sepulchre. 

No.  5.  The  lightning  from  Heaven  coming  down  on  carnal  Reason  and 
vain  Philosophy. 

No.  6.  The  scofl[ing  Deists  and  Atheists  in  the  great  galler}',  filled  with 
chagrin,  and  overwhelmed  with  fear,  at  the  issue  of  this  trial. 

No.  7.  The  marshal  of  the  empire,  and  the  high  sheriff  of  Rome,  leading 
the  eleren  disciples  of  Christ  out  of  court  in  triumph  under  flying  colours. 


396  CHRIST    REJECTED. 

he  had  taken  to  clear  the  disciples  from  the  false  charges 
that  had  been  preferred  against  them ;  and  also,  his  so 
very  ingeniously  exposing  the  imbecility,  and  almost 
unpardonable  oversight  of  this  court,  in  its  not  seeing, 
that  if  the  evidence  of  the  Roman  guards  went  to  prove 
any  thing  under  the  sun,  it  rather  proved  the  innocence 
than  the  guilt  of  the  disciples. 

When  the  judge  informed  this  high  court  of  chancery, 
that  without  any  replication  to  the  young  barrister's 
justification  of  the  disciples'  case,  that  the  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  without  committing  their  case  to  the  learned 
jury  in  the  box,  were  are  all  discharged  from  any 
longer  durance  at  the  bar  of  this,  or  any  other  court  in 
the  empire ;  and  that  this  court  of  chancery,  doth  give 
them  a  most  plenary  and  honourable  acquittal  from  all 
the  charges  contained  in  the  indictment,  that  has 
been  preferred  against  them,  at  the  bar  of  this  court. 
At  which  annunciation  from  the  bench,  the  whole  court 
made  a  simultaneous  rise,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Deistical  gentlemen  and  ladies,  in  the  great  gallery, 
with  ladies  Reason  a^nd  Philosophy  in  the  small  gallery ; 
who  appeared  much  in  the  dumps — and  many  of  the 
ladies  had  to  make  a  speedy  application  of  their  vials 
of  hartshorn,  to  prevent  what  the  vulgar  call  the  lock- 
jaw. And  when  the  judge  had  finished,  the  court  gave 
a  salubrious  shout  of  praise,  for  there  was  exceeding 
great  joy  in  the  court. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  disciples  went  out  of 
court,  headed  by  the  marshal  and  sheriflf,  with  their 
colours  unfurled,  with  this  motto,  "  In  the  white  field 
of  the  gospel  banner,  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead ;" 
which  motto,  when  the  Deist,  and  their  first  cousin,  the 
Atheist,  cast  their  invidious  eye,  or  fastidious  visions 
on,  this  soul-chagrin,  and  to  them  awfully  alarming 
motto,  their  pugnacious  and  scoffing  honours,  all  slunk 
out  of  court  filled  with  amazement,  and  astounded  with 
disappointment,  and  overwhelmed  with  shame ;  each 
singing  this  mournful  soliloquy  in  their  minds,  and  con- 
sciences :  "  Thou,  O  Galilean,  hast  in  Jill  things  the 
pre-eminence." 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  397 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  disciples  of  Christ 
had  left  the  court,  that  the  young  barrister  rose  and 
tendered  to  the  judges  and  court,  his  most  grateful 
acknowledgments,  for  the  favour  granted  him  in  the 
untrammelled  use  of  the  court,  in  order  to  vindicate  the 
character  and  justify  the  persons  of  the  disciples  of 
Christ.  And  I  now  humbly  and  obsequiously  pray  the 
court,  to  accept  the  sincere  homage  of  my  highest  con- 
sideration, for  its  patient  attention  while  I  endeavoured 
to  advocate  the  cause  of  truth  and  innocency :  and 
presuming  on  the  past  clemency  and  indulgence  of 
this  court,  I  am,  as  it  were,  almost  involuntarily  led  to 
embargo  this  court  one  day  more,  in  order  to  give  me 
an  opportunity  to  present  to  the  bar  and  vision  of  this 
court,  a  short  portrait  of  the  persons  and  acts  of  Caia- 
phas  and  Pilate,  after  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  was 
taken,  or  went  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

When  the  chief  judge  rose  and  informed  the  young 
barrister,  that  the  court  experienced  the  highest  feel- 
ings of  clemency  and  legal  indulgence  towards  him; 
and  therefore,  the  court  is  at  your  service  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  praying,  that  your  learned  honour  will  not 
exceed  the  longitude  of  another  day,  as  the  court  in 
general  experiences  a  considerable  degree  of  lassitude, 
from  the  length  of  the  trial.  The  chief  judge  then 
announced,  that  in  consequence  of  the  wish  and  prayer 
of  the  young  attorney,  this  court  stood  adjourned  to 
meet  in  this  place  the  next  day. 


2i. 


398 


CmilST  REJECTED. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  court  met  pursuant  ta 
adjournment,  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-sixth  day 
of  the  trial.  During  the  recess  of  the  court,  the  young 
attorney  took  out  a  mandamus  or  writ  of  caption,  from 
the  high  court  of  the  empire,  and  had  it  served  on 
Pontius  Pilate,  the  governor  of  Judea,  and  on  Caiaphas, 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews.  And  as  soon  as  the  judges, 
and  all  the  other  learned  gentlemen  of  the  bar  had 
arrived  and  taken  their  seats,  the  spectators  also 
came  very  early,  and  took  their  seats  in  the  galleries  ; 
when  the  marshal  and  high  sheriff,  and  their  satellites 
of  the  law,  brought  the  governor  and  high  priest  into 
court,  and  placed  them  before  the  bar;  when  the 
plebeian  orders,  rushed  in  and  filled  the  isles  and  areas 
to  a  state  of  almost  overflowing.     The  legal  officer  of 


No.  1.  The  five  judges  of  the  court  of  Areopagus. 

No.  2  The  Horaan  gi.veriior,  a  prisoner  at  the  bar,  charged  with  the 
i^lect  of  his  duty,  m  not  bringing  the  guards  to  trial :  nnd  also  for  his  not 
appreliending  tlie  disciples,  as  soon  as  the  cinicified  body   of  Christ  was 

i^o.  S.  Caiaplias  chnrged  with  the  neglect  of  duty. 

^o.  4.  The  young  lawyer  pleading  f^ainst  the  governor  and  Caiaphas. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  399 

the  court  offered  up  the  usual  offering  of  God  save  the 
emperor  and  Commonwealth. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  ceremonies  and 
formalities  were  all  gone  through  with,  and  silence  per- 
vaded the  court,  the  young  advocate  for  the  cause  of 
truth  and  justice,  rose  and  in  a  most  solemn  manner, 
thus  addressed  the  judges  and  the  whole  court :  May 
it  please  your  honours,  who  constitute  the  legal  elements 
of  this  heretofore  honourable  and  impartial  court,  and 
ancient  tribunal  of  truth  and  justice — I  once  more  most 
humbly  pray  the  court  for  a  few  moments,  to  conde- 
scend to  denude  itself  of  its  postulatory  panoply  of  false 
sophistry  and  vain  philosophy,  and  lay  aside  its  flimsy 
drapery  of  modern  philosophical  ratiocination;  or  please 
your  honours  the  judges,  let  this  high  court  of  law  and 
inquest,  throw  over  its  shoulders  the  old  ruthless  cloak 
of  truth  and  impartiality,  armed  with  the  vigorous 
panoply  of  Roman  justice,  and  clothed  in  the  imperish- 
able garment  of  Roman  virtue,  richly  embellished  with 
the  gems  of  temperance  and  the  embroidery  of  old 
Roman  legal  chastity,  while,  may  it  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  I  take  the  gratuitous  freedom,  of  placing 
some  of  the  latent  acts  and  dark  clouds,  which  I  see 
rising  out  of  the  shameful  delinquency  of  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar. 

Now  may  it  please  your  honours,  I  v/ould  inquire 
by  way  of  information,  on  this  point  of  the  law  com- 
pass, if  it  is  not  viewed  by  your  honours,  as  irrelevant 
for  a  young  civilian  to  presume  to  make  a  small  levy  on 
the  time  and  patience  of  the  court,  and  ask  your  learn- 
ed honours.  What  in  the  name  of  common  sense  would 
you  say,  ought  to  have  been  the  obvious  and  straight- 
forward line  of  duty,  for  these  two  notorious  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  (that  is,  please  your  honours,  Pilate  and 
Caiaphas,)  to  have  pursued,  when  first  the  guards'  re- 
port undulated  their  audibility  : — to  wit,  '-  that  his 
disciples  stole  him  while  we  slept?"  May  it  please  your 
learned  honours  to  indulge  me  with  your  patience  and 
legal  clemency,  while  my  forecasting  mind  takes  the 
forensick  liberty,  in  consequence  of  the  coindication  I 


400  CHllIST  REJECTED. 

see  in  the  ominous  features  of  wisdom  and  legal  saga- 
city, which  I  have  this  morning  the  high-wrought 
pleasure  of  beholding  in  the  countenancesof  this  court: 
Then,  please  your  honours,  as  your  forensick  prompter, 
I  would  answer :  Why  did  not  Caiaphas,  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar,  upon  first  receiving  the  guards'  report,  call 
his  servants,  and  give  immediate  orders  for  his  theolo- 
gical carriage  to  be  made  ready,  and  command  his 
postillion  to  drive  off  with  all  possible  speed  to  the 
palace  of  Pilate,  the  other  prisoner  at  the  bar,  and  then 
devoutly  pray  the  governor  of  Judea,  to  have  imme- 
diately sent  for  the  centurion  and  his  guards,  to  make 
their  appearance  before  his  regal  honour,  in  order  that 
Pilate  might  closely  examine  the  centurion  and  his 
guards,  on  this  heretofore  unheard  of  recreant  conduct 
of  Roman  soldiers,  going  all  simultaneously  to  sleep : 
[when  placed  on  duty,]  and  then,  if  Pilate  was  convin- 
ced of  the  validity  of  the  watch's  report,  please  your 
honours,  it  would  have  been  Pilate's  obvious  line  of 
duty,  and  also  straight-forward  course,  for  his  excel- 
lency to  have  pursued,  first  as  a  duty  which  the  gover- 
nor owed  to  his  legitimate  sovereign ;  secondly,  to  the 
honour  and  military  glory  of  the  Roman  army ;  thirdly, 
to  his  own  character  as  a  governor  of  one  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  empire,  for  to  have  given  on  this  myste- 
rious catastrophe,  this  unexpected  and  pressing  emer- 
gency of  the  case,  his  most  imperative  orders  to  have 
had  Jerusalem,  with  all  the  regions  in  the  vicinity  of 
that  noted  city,  in  every  possible  direction,  most  faith- 
fully searched  for  the  crucified  body  of  Christ :  so  that, 
please  your  honours  the  judges,  if  the  disciples,  with 
the  dead  body  of  their  master  w^ere  in  the  land  of  the 
living,  to  have  had  them  all,  with  their  fraudulent  mer- 
chandize, immediately  arrested,  so  that  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  might  have  been  once  more  safely  lodg- 
ed in  the  sepulchre.  And  please  your  honours  the 
judges,  if  the  recreant  disciples,  had  by  any  means 
whatsoever  destroyed  the  body  of  Christ,  then  Pilate 
should  put  the  notorious  robbers  in  hold,  under  safe 
durance,  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  civil  and  military 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  401 

laws  of  the  empire,  till  the  day  should  be  fixed  for  their 
trial — which  this  court  well  know,  would  eventuate  in 
their  immediate  death,  by  the  act  of  crucifixion. 

Your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  with 
the  whole  world,  may  clearly  see,  how  very  easy  it 
would  have  been  for  Pilate,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  by 
doing  his  duty  at  this  momentous  crisis,  to  have  set  the 
whole  of  that  deleterious  catastrophe  forever  at  rest:  that 
is,  please  your  learned  honours,  whether  the  eleven 
disciples  stole  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre ;  or,  whether  Christ  did  indeed  rise  from 
under  the  dark  empire  of  death,  by  his  own  latent  or 
divine  power. 

I  make  no  doubt,  but  your  honours  clearly  see  with 
me,  that  my  corollary,  or  if  you  please,  my  simple 
conclusion,  is  really  so  very  easily  comprehended,  that 
any  child  of  ten  years  of  age,  of  common  capacity,  and 
blest  with  a  state  of  sanity,  could  give  the  answer; 
which  would  have  saved  our  wise  men  of  183'2,  a  world 
of  assiduous  turmoil,  in  deciding  this  long  irritable  con- 
troversy— whether  the  theism  of  the  Jews,  or  the 
theology  of  the  Christians,  Deism,  or  Philosophy  is 
true.  But,  I  will  not  detain  the  court  with  my  simple 
argument  any  longer.  This,  no  doubt,  appears  to  your 
learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  to  have  been 
the  legal,  and  what  our  country  people  would  have 
said,  [had  they  been  asked,]  the  straight-forward  road: 
and  our  marine  friends,  the  straight  course  and  the 
legal  point  of  the  compass,  for  Pilate  to  have  shaped 
his  official  conduct  by  ;  which,  please  your  honours, 
would  have  eventuated  in  the  governor's  honour,  and 
have  saved  our  sovereign,  [that  is,  satan,  sin,  and  vain 
Philosophy,]  and  his  government,  both  the  time  and 
expense  of  this  singular  and  mysterious  trial. 

Now,  this  line  of  conduct  on  the  prisoner's  part,  at 
the  very  moment  the  news  of  the  reported  robbery  of 
the  sepulchre  met  Pilate's  ear,  would  have  been  praise- 
worthy. And  who  would  have  thought,  please  the 
court,  that  it  were  possible  for  a  Roman  governor  to 
h^ve  acted  otherwise ;  especially,  when  we  all  know 


402  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

that  Pilate  was  well  acquainted  with  all  the  wise  axioms 
of  the  civil  and  martial  courts  of  law :  and  that  the 
principles  of  duty,  and  just  allegiance  to  his  sovereign 
and  his  laws,  would  have  propelled  Pilate,  if  guided  by 
the  steady  helm  of  common  sense,  to  have  straitly  pur- 
sued, and  legally  acted  out,  such  an  easy  and  obvious 
line  of  duty;  which  the  imperious  emergency  of  the 
case  demanded  at  his  hands. 

And  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges 
of  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  as  well  as  every 
other  person  in  court,  who  may  be  blest  at  this  time 
with  a  state  of  sanity  will,  I  presume,  gratuitously  fol- 
low in  the  simple,  and  no  doubt  in  some  people's  views, 
my  almost  childish  manner  of  reasoning,  and  say  that 
my  logic  and  argument,  is  altogether  too  puerile  ta 
be  presented  at  the  bar  of  such  a  profound  court. 

Well,  I  shall,  by  way  of  legal  courtesy,  admit  the 
relevancy  of  some  people's  impugning  remarks,  on  my 
childish  logic.  But,  may  it  please  your  honours,  the 
sententious  declaration  of  a  certain  theologian,  is  of 
sufficient  buoyancy,  to  keep  my  head  above  the  waters 
of  scorn :  to  wit — "  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and 
sucklings,  thou  hast  ordained  praise :"  therefore,  armed 
with  this  childish  panoply,  I  shall  out-brave  the  pitiless 
storm  of  those  fastidious  people's  risibility,  and  proceed, 
please  your  honours,  and  say,  that  both  Pilate  and 
Caiaphas'  own  personal  responsibility,  which  the  high 
dignities  of  their  official  station,  both  in  church  and 
state  called  for,  would  lead,  and  even  have  roused  them 
to  such  a  simple  and  obvious  line  of  straight-forward 
duty :  and  not  only  so,  I  should  have  thought,  that 
both  the  prisoners  would  have  taken  up  the  simple 
telescope  of  common  sense,  and  then  at  least  take  an 
oblique  view  of  the  general  opinion  of  all  mankind — 
which  certainly  would  have  had  some  powerful  influ- 
ence on  their  minds,  in  legally  and  theologically  pro- 
pelling them,  Mobile  sailing,  or  rather  labouring  under 
such  a  weight  of  public  and  personal  responsibility, 
for  them  to  have  done  their  respective  duties. 

But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judge« 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  403 

of  this  court,  Pilate  the  Roman  governor,  and  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  in 
their  most  shameful  and  total  neglect  of  obvious  duty, 
and  entire  delinquency,  of  all  those  wise  and  prudent 
measures,  and  at  the  same  time  precautious,  civil  and 
military  steps,  when  overtaken  by  such  an  unexpected 
catastrophe,  spreads  an  inexplicable  cloud,  which  the 
vulture's  eye  cannot  pierce  through :  and  at  the  same 
time,  such  sombreness  locates,  like  a  dark  suspicion  over 
their  persons  and  characters,  that  will  overwhelm  them 
with  the  deepest  moral  disgrace  forever.  So  that,  your 
learned  honours,  I  make  no  doubt,  see  with  me,  that 
the  line  of  conduct  I  have  presented  at  the  bar  of  this 
court,  as  a  reasonable  way -mark  on  the  public  telegraph 
of  their  duty,  and  please  your  learned  honours,  indulge 
me  to  place  a  synoptical  view  of  the  prisoners'  case  be- 
fore the  court,  by  just  observing,  that  if  Caiaphas  and 
Pilate  had  acted  as  men  of  rife  activity,  how  marvel- 
lously easy  it  would  have  been  for  them  to  have  at  once 
detected  the  robbery  of  the  sepulchre.  And  indulge 
me  once  more  to  ask  the  court.  Whether  such  a  line  of 
duty  was  not  imperiously  necessary,  to  defend  their 
own  heads  from  becoming  reprehensible  to  the  vitu- 
perating voice  of  all  mankind? 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the 
judges,  to  extend  the  clemency  of  your  indulgence, 
while  I  assume  the  office  of  a  prompter  in  your  honours' 
behalf;  so  that  what  I  should  naturally  conceive  to  be 
the  full  acme  of  the  forensick  fever  of  your  legal  dis- 
pleasure, at  the  disgustful  view,  which  the  wisdom  and 
good  sense  of  your  honours'  take,  at  the  shameful  de- 
linquency and  pusillanimous  conduct  of  Caiaphas  and 
Pilate,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.  Therefore,  I  am  now 
led,  from  the  calm  expression  I  behold  in  the  counte- 
nances of  this  court,  to  believe,  that  in  consequence  of 
the  few  law  explanations,  and  small,  coruscations  of 
legal  light,  which  I  have  in  my  very  imperfect  reason- 
ing placed  in  the  view  of  your  learned  honours ;  so  that 
I  presume,  your  honours  see  with  me,  that  the  darkest 
shades  of  legal  guilt  and  just  suspicion,  converges  itself 


404  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

on  the  heads  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar :  so  that  both 
Caiaphas  and  Pilate  must  have  had  some  latent  and 
black  design,  which  laid  deeply  imbeded  in  their  strange 
conduct,  that  they  so  publicly  manifested  in  their- 
studied  aberration  from  the  well  known  path  of  their 
duty,  which  was  so  obviously  written  in  the  most 
glaring  signs,  on  the  telegraph  of  the  law — in  the 
characters  of  justice,  truth,  honour  and  personal  char- 
acter, for  them  to  have  steered  by,  while  they  were 
sailing  under  that  dark  and  cloudy  dispensation,  to 
them,  of  the  sad  and  soul-distressing  loss  of  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  there 
certainly  hangs  a  profound  mystery  over  the  prisoners' 
conduct  :  to  wit — in  that  they  have  acted  with  the 
most  profound  wisdom,  and  civil,  military,  and  eccles- 
iastical skill,  to  secure  and  safely  guard  the  body,  when 
first  deposited  in  the  sepulchre;  and  yet,  that  the  self- 
same persons  should,  from  the  very  moment  the  report 
came  out,  that  the  sepulchre  was  robbed,  alter  their 
conduct,  and  become  like  a  set  of  pusillanimous,  ^Aos^ 
ridden  and  superannuated  old  ladies — as  if  they  were 
afraid  to  go  near  the  solitary  mansions  of  the  dead!  so 
that  both  the  governor  and  his  pious  coadjutor,  should 
in  the  course  of  thirty-six  hours,  become  the  recreant 
slaves  of  the  greatest  acme  of  spectre  fear  !  But,  I  pray 
the  court  to  bear  with  the  relevancy  of  my  logical 
screw,  to  press  the  subject  home,  while  I  endeavour  to 
analise  the  spectre  conduct  of  the  governor  and  priest ; 
so  as  to  resolve  its  fearful  principles  into  its  immoral 
parts.  Then,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  I 
do  believe  and  declare,  at  the  bar  of  this  impartial 
court,  that  there  certainly  lies  at  the  door  of  the  prison- 
ers' moral  accountability,  the  deep  sin  of  one  of  the 
most  nefarious  designs  and  diabolical  collusions,  in  their 
thus  obreptitiously  gliding  off  from  the  straight  path, 
which  common  sense  placed  before  them,  in  their 
shamefully  and  silently  passing  by  their  obvious,  duty : 
and  then,  please  the  court,  countenancing,  under  a  base 
policy,  the  lying  and  sleepy  report  of  the  guards — th^t 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  405 

the  disciples  of  Christ,  only  eleven  in  number,  came 
and  over-awed  a  band  of  Roman  guards,  and  ran  off 
with  the  bleeding  body  of  Christ ;  and  that  too,  please 
your  learned  honours  the  judges,  with  all  the  sensible 
and  intelligent  part  of  mankind,  while  a  noble  watch 
of  the  imperial  soldiers  of  the  Roman  army,  had  the 
charge  of  the  same,  under  the  awful  penalty  of  imme- 
diate death  !  And  that  these  men  should  all  fall  simul- 
taneously to  sleep  under  the  foregoing  circumstances ! 
And  now,  may  it  please  your  honours,  what  person 
in  a  state  of  sanity,  would  ever  have  believed,   that 
Pilate  and  Caiaphas,  the  prisoners  at  the  bar — that  is, 
please  your  honours,  if  you  are  disposed  to  admit  the 
relevancy  of  my  views,  you  will  then  be  led  to  say, 
from  the  deep  expression  of  wisdom  and  science  you 
this  day  behold  in  their  vivid  and  scintillating  counte- 
nances, at  the  bar  of  this  court,  which  in  my  humble 
view,  characterizes  them  as  enlightened  and  intelligent 
gentlemen.     Now,  please  this  court,  from  the  imposing 
appearance  of  these  tw^o  prisoners.  Who  in  the  sacred 
name  of  the  divinities  of  our  mythology,  w^ould  ever 
have  once  indulged  the  latent  thought,  that  Pilate  and 
Caiaphas  would,  please  your  honours,   have  had   the ' 
bold  and  daring   effrontery  and  bare-faced  temerity, 
and  let  me  add,  shameless  audacity,  to  make  such  an 
outrageous  surreption  on  the  long  established  usuages 
and  axioms  of  the  principles  of  common  sense  ;  and  like 
the  loquacious  ladies  of  ancient  Tyre,  Pilate  and  Caia- 
phas should  follow  a  reci^ant  banditti  of  unprincipled 
Roman  soldiery,  and  sing  as  a  certain  writer  has  said, 
ike  a  harlot  of  Tyre,  this  epithalamium  ode,  or  this  in- 
congruous stanza :  "  His  disciples  stole  him  while  we 
slept !"  For  your  learned  honours  must  w^ell  remember, 
that  these  prisoners  let  the  lying  fox  peep  his  red  head 
out  of  the  bag,  before  the  bar  of  this  court,  when  they 
gave  in  their  personal  evidence,  to  prove  that  all  their 
prudent  and  legal  measures  were  adopted,  in  order  to 
secure   and   safely   guard    the  body   of  Christ    in  the 
sepulchre;  if  his  honour  the  chief  Judge  will  have  the 
goodness  to  refer  to  his  notes  in  Pilate's  case.     Your 


406  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

honour,  without  any  rife  logick  of  mine,  will  see,  that 
when  Caiaphas  was  in  the  private  drawing-room  of 
Pilate — how  that,  through  the  base  principles  of  fear, 
and  personal  interest,  they  agreed  with  each  other,  to 
give  the  lying  hydra  of  the  guards'  report ;  which  ap- 
peared for  a  short  season,  to  be  struggling  in  their  con- 
sciences, in  a  nascent  state  ;  that  is,  please  your  learn- 
ed honours,  a  state,  in  marine  language,  between  wind 
and  water;  or,  in  unfigured  language,  a  doubtful  state  y 
between  life  and  death  :  when  the  prisoners  at  the  bar 
mutually  agreed,  to  call  in  their  old  family  couching 
physician,  of  private  interest,  who  soon  prescribed  a 
gentle  emolient,  which  gave  a  vigorous  birth  to  the 
guards'  report.  Therefore,  your  honours'  notes  do,1 
without  a  synoptical  illustration,  from  the  rife  activity 
of  my  argument,  in  order  to  prove,  that  the  prisoners 
at  the  bar,  by  becoming  through  a  base  policy,  acces- 
sary to  publish  to  the  world  such  an  absurd  story ; 
which  does,  please  your  honours  the  judges,  deeply  de- 
moralize their  character  forever.  And  I  hope  your 
honours  will  not  be  alarmed,  at  the  fever  of  my  mind, 
from  the  remarks  I  have  made,  when  I  add,  that  they 
have  most  shamefully  blasted  before  the  altars  of  our 
gods,  and  in  the  eye  of  truth,  their  reputation;  by 
stamping  the  broad  seal  of  lying  infamy  on  their  char- 
acters, in  thus  publishing  to  the  world,  one  of  the  basest 
falsehoods  that  ever  undulated  the  audibility  of  man- 
kind. So  that,  please  your  honours,  it  appears,  I  hum- 
bly presume,  relevant  to  the  wisdom  and  good  sense  of 
this  court,  for  me,  to  say,  that  one  of  the  most  sable 
collusions  between  these  two  prisoners  at  the  bar — to 
wit:  Pilate  the  Roman  piocurator  of  Judea,  and  Caia- 
phas the  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  to  give  publicity  to 
such  an  incongruous,  base,  vile,  and  diabolical  report, 
must,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours,  have  had  its 
rise  and  progress  from  the  fiery  worlds  ;  by  the  agency 
of  some  flying  salamander,  with  a  heart  and  conscience 
as  callous  as  the  heart  of  ancient  Molock  :  which,  if, 
reports  are  to  be  relied  on,  had  a  hot  oven  in  its  breast, 
to  burn  infants  alive.     And  the  which  figure  I  have 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  407 

alluded  to,  please  your  honours,  is  but  a  feeble  idea  to 
set  forth  the  lying  and  burning  lava,  that  issued  forth 
from  the  labouring  volcano  of  their  lying  hearts.  And, 
please  your  honours,  were  it  possible,  that  Caiaphas,  a 
learned  high  priest  of  the  Jews  ;  and  Pontius  Pilate,  a 
person  of  some  science  at  least,  sufficient  to  fit  him  for 
the  high  office  of  a  governor,  over  a  large  province  of 
the  Roman  empire — so  that  these  two,  once  honourable 
gentlemen,  if  it  is  not  irrelevant  to  use  the  appellative 
of  a  gentleman,  when  referring  to  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  I  shall  iterate  again,  is  it  not  self-evident,  in  the 
conduct  of  the  prisoners,  that  they  entered  into  one  of 
the  most  pusillanimous  collusions  with  the  lying  guards, 
in  (as  I  have  before  said,)  publishing  one  of  the  most 
incongruous  and  unlikely  tales,  that,  please  this  court, 
draws  in  its  wake  all  the  black  and  diabolical  lying 
satellites,  that  revolve  round  the  prince  of  demons  ; 
which,  please  your  honours  the  judges,  leads  me  to 
draw  this  conclusion :  that  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
Pilate  and  Caiaphas,  must  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  have  made  an  onerous  levy  on  the  vilest  and  most 
diabolical  principles,  of  the  constuperating  hearts  of  the 
basest  of  mankind,  which  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
please  your  honours,  have  run  the  lying  exchequer  of 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar  of  this  court  entirely  dry ! 
But,  may  it  please  your  learned  honours  the  judges, 
which  has,  by  the  benign  indulgence  of  our  sovereign 
lord  the  emperor,  been  constituted  into  a  court  of  law 
and  inquest,  over  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ; — but, 
indulge  me,  please  your  honours,  as  a  category,  is  now 
passing  before  my  view,  while  at  the  same  time,  I  ex- 
perience no  small  degree  of  hesitancy,  of  expressing 
those  ideal  birds  of  passage  in  words ;  least  I  should,  in 
the  selection  of  my  vocabulary,  cause  my  language  to 
appear  repulsive  to  the  refined  audibility  and  chaste 
language  in  use  at  the  bar  of  this  court.  But,  may  it 
please  your  honours,  a  deep  sense  of  duty  onerously 
propels  me,  to  fearlessly  venture  to  place  my  views  be- 
fore your  learned  honours :  to  wit — that  Pilate  and 
Caiaphas  must  have,  by  some  means  unknown  to  this 


408  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

court,  crept  into  the  anti-chamber  of  old  Beelzebub's 
royal  consort,  at  a  special  season  of  physical  distress, 
and  then  made  a  surreption  on  the  exurbiant  secundine, 
in  order  to  give  a  vigorous  birth  to  this  lying  hydra  of 
hell ;  as  the  offspring  of  the  blackest  demons,  to  insult 
the  good  sense  and  intelligence  of  mankind,  with  this 
lying  excresence :  "  His  disciples  stole  him  while  we 
slept ! !" 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  honours  the  judges,  to 
indulge  me  with  its  legal  patience  for  a  few  minutes,  as 
I  see  that  the  dial  of  the  court  admonishes  the  humble 
and  obsequious  advocate  on  the  side  of  truth,  that  this 
is  the  last  day  of  the  court's  indulgence  toward  me ; 
and  that  its  obreptitious  hours  and  minutes,  are  fast 
coming  to  an  end  :  that  the  benign  favour  this  court 
has  granted  me  to  finish  this  all-important  and  myste- 
rious cause  :  therefore,  I  shall  trouble  this  court  with 
but  a  very  few  more  sententious  remarks,  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  prisoners'  guilt ;  and  I  now  experience  in 
my  own  mind,  the  most  plenary  affiance,  that  the 
judges  and  whole  court  see  with  me,  that  the  artful 
and  demoniacal  policy  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of 
the  Jews,  in  collusion  with  his  fawning  satellite,  Pon- 
tius Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  in  consequence  of 
their  base  and  venal  policy  and  vile  collusion  together: 
I  therefore  move  the  court,  that  Caiaphas  and  Pilate, 
with  the  guards,  be  in  the  first  place  disfranchised,  and 
then  out-lawed,  from  ever  being  citizens  of  the  Roman  • 
empire  ;  and  that  they  be  immediately  banished  to  some 
out-landish  country  and  nebulous  dispensation — into 
some  one  of  the  distant  provinces,  in  the  demoniacal 
regions  of  old  Beelzebub's  empire :  where  neither 
justice,  honour,  veracity,  wisdom  nor  knowledge  and 
legal  light,  and  sound  reason,  nor  even  common  sense, 
ever  dwelt :  so  that  the  lying  wretches  may  be  for- 
ever banished  from  the  abodes  of  men.  And,  may  it 
please  your  learned  honours  the  judges  of  this  court,  I 
am  now  done.  When  the  young  barrister  sat  down 
and  said  no  more. 

P.  S.  Christ  and  Bible  despisers — see  in  Caiaphas 
and  Pilate's  portrait,  your  own  picture. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  409 

The  chief  judge  passes  sentence  of  banishment  on  Caiapha^f 
Pilate  and  the  Guards. 

The  chief  judge  then  rose,  and  delivered  the  condign 
sentence  of  the  law,  against  the  prisoners  at  the  bar, 
as  follows :  that  it  was  his  opinion  and  judgment,  in 
conjunction  with  his  learned  associates,  with  whom  he 
had  the  legal  pleasure  co-ordinately  to  co-operate  with 
through  the  whole  of  this  arduous  trial,  which  has  last- 
ed twenty-six  days,  without  intermission,  which  is, 
may  it  please  this  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  that 
both  Caiaphas  and  Pilate,  in  not  doing  their  full  share 
of  ecclesiastical,  civil  and  military  duty,  after  the  cru- 
cified body  of  Christ  was  missing  out  of  the  sepulchre: 
therefore,  their  great  default  lies  in  their  not  searching 
Jerusalem,  and  the  adjacent  country  round  about,  early 
on  the  forenoon  of  the  day  of  the  reported  robbery  of 
the  sepulchre,  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ ;  and 
cause  the  eleven  disciples,  with  the  stolen  merchan- 
dize from  the  old  custom-house  of  death,  to  be  arrested 
and  brought  before  Pilate's  bar,  as  it  has  appeared  to 
this  court,  during  the  pending  of  this  mysterious  cause 
at  its  bar,  both  by  exparta  and  parole  testimony, 
that  the  eleven  disciples  never  left  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, from  the  day  Christ  was  crucified,  nor  for  many 
days  after  ;  and  some  of  those  very  eleven  disciples, 
not  for  many  years  after.  And  I  now  charge  this  court 
to  distinctly  observe,  that  Caiaphas  had  in  his  own 
hand,  the  plenitude  of  ecclesiastical  power  over  the 
whole  Jewish  nation,  with  the  diocess  of  the  temple ; 
and  his  pliant  coadjutor,  Pontius  Pilate,  at  the  same 
time,  the  civil  and  military  power  and  government  of 
the  province  of  Judea ;  including  the  noted  city  of 
Jerusalem,  at  his  entire  command. 

Now,  may  it  please  this  court  of  law  and  inquest,  to 
indulge  me  in  the  solemn  name  of  the  great  empyrean 
ruler,  to  make  this  asseveration  at  the  bar  of  this  court, 
and  before  all  the  intelligent  and  enlightened  part  of 
the  Roman  citizens :  Why,  in  the  inexplicable  names 
of  our  multifarious  and  multiform  divinities,  did  not 
these  two  prisoners  at  the  bar  do  their  duty,  by  follovr- 

2m 


410  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

ing  the  well  known  adage  of  our  old  mothers,  "a  stitch 
in  time  saves  nine?"  The  court  will  pardon  my  ladies 
figure ;  but  the  base  and  recreant  conduct  of  the  prison- 
ers at  the  bar,  in  not  pursuing  the  sanitary  measures 
they  had  the  full  command  of,  at  the  time  the  body 
of  Christ  was  missing,  has  located  such  a  sombre  cate- 
gory in  my  view,  which  has  led  me  to  the  choice  of  the 
most  simple,  and  to  our  old  country  ladies,  the  most 
familiar  idea,  to  set  forth  the  most  pusillanimous  de- 
linquency of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  in  their  entire 
and  total  aberrance,  from  all  their  direct  and  most 
obvious  line  of  duty.  Therefore,  may  it  please  this 
wise  and  impartial  court,  and  the  scientific  jury  in  the 
box,  that  in  all  the  references  which  I  and  my  learned 
associates  have  been  able  to  make,  by  a  sedulous  search, 
or,  as  our  mariners  say,  overhauling  the  mental  rigging 
of  the  long  usages  and  axioms  of  our  courts  of  law 
and  legal  justice — that  after  calmly  weighing,  in  the 
impartial  scales  of  our  legal  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
the  best  and  most  distinguished  doctrines  of  all  our 
courts  of  civil  and  martial  law,  with  the  rife  auxiliarious 
aid  of  the  category,  which  at  times,  the  doctrines  of 
our  ecclesiastical  courts  spread  before  our  view ; 
therefore,  from  all  the  foregoing  elements  of  mundane 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  which  as  auxiliaries,  we  as 
judges  of  this  high  court  of  chancery,  have  called  unto 
our  aid,  to  assist  and  shore  up  our  own  judgment :  we 
therefore  fearlessly,  under  the  sanction  and  panoply  of 
so  many  forensick  almoners,  give  to  this  court,  and  to 
the  whole  world  of  rational  and  intelligent  beings, 
that  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  Caiaphas  and  Pilate's 
shameful  and  mysterious  conduct,  is  in  all  the  points 
and  bearings  of  law,  justice,  truth  and  equity,  a  most 
collateral,  presumptive  and  circumstantial  confirmation 
to  this  court,  that  there  is  no  confidence  to  be  placed 
in  either  of  their  words.  And  that  the  stealing  story 
about  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  being  by  bis  disci- 
ples stole  out  of  the  sepulchre,  while  a  Roman  watch 
was  placed  to  guard  the  same,  under  the  awful  penalty 
of  the  forfeiture  of  their  lives,  most,  please  this  court, 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  itself,  be  a  most  flagrant. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  411 

lying  overt-act,  against  all  the  modest  bulwarks  of 
truth  :  carrying  with  it  in  its  desolating  current,  all 
the  once  perennial  waters  of  civil  and  moral  virtue. 
And,  please  this  court,  who  does  not  see  in  its  deteriora- 
ing  wake,  a  most  deliberate  malice  afore-thought,  in 
their  uttering,  and  being  accessary  to  the  utterance  of 
such  a  diabolical  falsehood  to  the  world,  with  a  callous 
heart,  malicious  design,  and  felonious  intention  of 
blasting  the  reputation,  and  ruining  the  character  of 
these  eleven  harmless,  and  to  the  laws  of  Caesar,  they 
are  inoffensive  men. 

Therefore,  the  judgm.ent  of  this  court  is  this,  that 
both  Caiaphas  and  Pilate,  are  in  the  eye  of  the  law, 
worthy  of  death  :  but,  in  consequence,  that  the  acme 
of  their  contumacy  did  not  reach  the  lives  of  the  eleven 
disciples,  it  is  the  benign  indulgence  of  this  court,  that 
this  crime  be  commuted,  as  follows:  first,  that  Caiaphas, 
Pilate  and  the  guards  be,  what  the  language  of  mari- 
ners call  dismantled;  but  in  our  legal  technicalities,  we 
say,  the  solemn  judgment  of  this  court  is.  That  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar,  be  disfranchised  of  their  citizen- 
ship ;  then  be  out-lawed  the  empire,  and  banished  to 
some  outlandish  dispensation ;  so  that  this  lying  trium- 
virate— to  wit :  Caiaphas,  Pilate  and  the  guards,  may 
be  transported  to  some  inter-mundane  location,  where 
neither  wisdom,  knowledge,  science,  philosophy,  nor 
even  common  sense,  ever  dwells  :  far,  very  far,  beyond 
the  abodes  of  intelligent  beings:  when  the  jury  rose, 
and  fully  assented  to  the  judge's  charge. 

The  marshal  and  sheriff,  were,  by  the  court,  ordered 
to  take  out  a  mandamus  :  and  having  executed  the 
same,  the  marshal  and  sheriff  led  the  prisoners  out  of 
court,  with  an  order  from  the  king  to  the  lords  of  ad- 
miralty, to  have  one  of  the  fast  sailing  ships  of  war 
immediately  well  manned,  and  got  ready  for  sea,  in 
order  to  ship  off  this  small  triumvirate  to  some  distant 
and  cymmerian  region,  where  folly,  ignorance,  lying, 
thick  fogs,  clouds  and  darkness  forever  dwell. 

Done  at  the  high  court  of  law  and  inquest,  Augtist  24,  1833. 
His  forensick  Honour,  COMMON  SENSE,   Chief  Judge. 
ALDERMAN  TRUTH,  Secretary. 


412 


CHRIST    REJECTED. 


Captain^   Onesimus'    humble  and  obsequious  respects  to  the 
^  reader. 

Pi  is  presumable  that  the  cairn  and  reflecting  reader 
W'lll  clearly  see,  that  the  obvious  design  of  the  author, 
hi  bringing  this  trial  into  this  high  court  of  chancery, 
was  to  test  either  the  truth  or  fallacy  of  the  gospel  of 
the  Son  of  God  ;  and  also,  the  true  Messiahship  of 
Jesus  Christ — by  laying  hold  of  the  only  weapon  that 
the  Jews  and  Deists  have,  to  this  day,  been  able  to 
bring  into  the  field  of  controversy,    from    the    grand 


No.  1.  The  chief  judge  pronouncing  the  condign  sentence  of  the  law,  on 
Pilate  and  Caiaphas  with  the  guards. 

No.  2.  The  young  Liwyc-r  having  obtained  judgment  against  Pilate,  Caia- 
phas and  the  guards,  sitting  in  his  chair,  listening  to  the  sentence  of  the 
law  against  them. 

No.  3.  The  marshal  and  sheriff  leading  Pilate,  Caiaphas,  and  theguar<Is 
on  ship  board. 

No.  4.  The  ship  of  war,  transporting  f'ilate,  Caiaphas  and  the  guards. 

No.  5.  The  darlc  mountains  in  tlie  land  of  Nod — on  one  there  is  a  burn- 
ing volcano,  that  has  been  disgorging  its  lying  lava  against  Christ  and  iiis 
gospel,  for  near  eighteen  hundred  years.  But  glory  to  our  God,  the  gospel 
ship  has  outrode  the  storm,  for  Christ  is  risen  indeed  from  the  deacl  :  and 
our  very  simple  conclusion  lathis,  Christian  friends,  that  the  gospel  is  true, 
and  that  its  bulwarks  are  inexpngnable;  so  that  both  Jews,  Deists,  and 
Atheists,  must  either  denude  themselves  before  Christ,  or  be  cast  into  Ileli 
fire  forever. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  413 

arsenal  of  sin  and  death,  against  the  person  and  Mes- 
siahship  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  true  church  on  earth: 
which,  attentive  reader,  is  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
postulatum  :  that  is,  a  mere  groundless  hypothesis,  or 
position  in  logic,  without  a  solitary  proof  to  substan- 
tiate the  premises,  which  the  enemies  of  the  gospel  have 
laid  down  :  That  is,  '*  that  his  disciples  stole  him  out 
of  the  sepulchre  while  we  slept." 

Now  this,  the  reader  will  see,  is  fighting  the  enemies 
of  Christ  with  their  own  weapons  ;  or,  if  the  reader 
pleases,  it  is  laying  hold  of  the  negative  side  of  this 
long  controversy ;  and  which,  no  doubt,  every  candid 
and  impartial  person  will  be  led  obviously  to  view,  that 
the  whole  truth  of  the  gospel,  and  the  dernier  test  of 
the  christian  religion,  rests  on  this  rock.  And  at  the 
same  time,  onerously  converges  its  whole  colossean 
weight  of  evidence,  on  either  the  fallacy  or  validity  of 
the  guards'  report — in  their  adhesive  and  invidious 
collusion  with  Caiaphas  and  Pilate.  This,  christian 
friends,  your  good  sense  at  once  discovers,  is  a  very 
simple  way  of  bringing  this  long  protracted  war  of  con- 
troversy, between  Jews,  Deists  and  Atheists,  as  the 
belligerant  triumvirate  on  the  one  side  of  this  irritable 
struggle — and  the  solitary  christian  sailor  on  the  other 
side.  And  although  the  enemies  of  the  gospel  have  the 
numerical  advantage  of  three  to  one  on  their  side  ;  yet, 
glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  we  will  still  sing  our 
marine  stanza :  "  Hearts  of  Oak,  is  the  timbers  of  our 
gospel  ship ; — hearts  of  Oak,  are  our  men,"  and  our 
captain's  heart  is  formed  out  of  the  root  of  the  old 
royal  oak,  that  grows  in  the  royal  forest  of  the  King 
of  Zion ;  whose  name  "  is  called  faithful  and  true ;  and 
in  righteousness  he  doth  judge  and  make  war :"  and 
his  military  dress  and  sailor-like  uniform,  on  the  days 
of  battle,  are  by  one  of  his  old  mid'shipmen,  by  the 
name  of  John,  thus  described,  as  he  walks  the  quarter- 
deck in  the  hour  of  battle : — 

"  And  he  (that  is  Christ)  was  clothed  with  a  ves- 
ture dipped  in  blood  :  and  his  name  is  (by  the  authority 
of  heaven)  called  the  word  of  God  :"  and  in  letters  of 

2w* 


414  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  richest  gold  of  Ophir,  it  is  written  on  all  the  royal 
telegraphs  in  the  land  of  Bulah,  and  on  the  walls  of 
the  new  Jerusalem  :  and  also  on  the  royal  pendant,  on 
board  the  admiral  of  the  white ;  as  well  as  on  his  ves- 
ture, and  on  his  thigh  :  ''  King  of  kings,  and  I^ord  of 
lords."  Therefore,  having  so  bold  and  courageous  a  look- 
ing officer  for  our  Captain,  on  board  our  gospel  ship  of 
the  line,  we  will  give  our  enemies  the  artillery  from  the 
main  battery  of  our  lower  gun-deck,  surcharged  with 
the  canister,  chain,  grape,  bar  and  double  headed  shot, 
from  the  magazine  of  the  wrath  of  God  :  when  we 
meet  this  belligerant  triumvirate,  and  sing,  that  hearts 
of  oak  is  our  ship,  captain  and  men,  so  that  we  shall 
fearlessly  run  our  gospel  ship  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemies,  and  receive  all  their  cross  and  raking  fire  ; 
and,  glory  to  God,  we  shall  win  the  day,  and  sink  our 
belligerant  foes  in  the  black  sea  of  interminable  wo  ; 
except  they  lower  their  peaks  and  settle  their  top-sail 
yards,  on  the  caps,  in  token  of  humble  and  obsequious 
submission  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  high  admiral  of  the 
white,  and  post  captain  of  our  salvation. 

All  these  things,  shipmates,  the  high  admiral  has 
fully  made  known  to  poor  christian  sailors,  through  the 
officers  of  the  board  of  admiralty,  in  a  posthumous 
communication  or  sea  letter,  shortly  after  he  left  our 
mundane  shores;  viz.  the  book  of  Revelation!  But, 
attentive  reader,  indulge  us  to  lay  aside  our  marine 
ideas  for  a  few  moments,  which  have  been  floating  be- 
fore our  mind ;  and  also,  our  war-like  vocabulary, 
and  in  plain  language  say,  that  our  argumentative  para- 
ble is  this  :  If  the  guards  and  Caiaphas,  with  the  whole 
nation  of  the  Jews,  and  all  the  Deists  and  yVtheists' 
story  of  the  eleven  disciples,  stealing  the  crucified  body 
of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  is  true — then  the  simple 
inference  and  conclusion  is  this :  that  the  Gospel,  or 
what  we  call  the  New  Testament,  is  the  most  marvel- 
lous production  in  the  world  !  And  laying  aside  the 
fairacles,  which  it  records  of  its  author's  performing, 
in  the  presence  of  his  friends  and  inveterate  enemies, 
which  has  been  transmitted  down  to  us  with  as  much 


CHRLST  REJECTED.  4i5 

historical  faithfulness  and  accuracy,  if  not  infinitely 
more  so,  than  the  most  prominent  occurrences  of  any 
of  the  greater  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  by  the  most  faith- 
ful and  sedulous  historian  :  so  have  the  supra-mundane 
works,  or  what  are  more  commonly  called  the  God- 
like miracles  of  Christ,  been  with  the  most  conscien- 
tious integrity  and  assiduous  faithfulness,  handed  down, 
by  almost  countless  millions  of  those,  that  have  ventur- 
ed their  eternal  interest  on  this  cardinal  point  of  the 
gospel ;  to  wit,  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  : — com- 
pared with  this  sublime  key-stone,  in  the  centre  of  the 
arched  rainbow  of  the  mercy  of  God  to  a  lost  world. 
We  sailors  say,  that  doctrines,  childish  creeds,  modes 
of  worship,  with  the  almost  endless  discrepancies,  in- 
formularies  of  what  is  called  the  christian  church,  in 
this  mundane  dispensation,  by  way  of  a  sailor's  com- 
parison, just  like  a  dear  little  flying  fish  to  the  Levia- 
than, or  a  great  whale  of  the  northern  ocean  :  or,  in  our 
land  category,  like  the  small  scintillations  during  the 
transient  vibration  of  the  wings  of  the  fire-fly,  on  the 
lawn  in  front  of  the  Deist's  palace,  on  a  mid-summer's 
eve — when  contrasted  with  the  glorious  coruscations  of 
light  we  receive  from  the  natural  sun  of  our  system 
at  meridian  day. 

But,  reader,  while  the  poor  sailor  has,  with  his  har- 
poon of  argument,  and  sea  figures  on  board  a  whale 
boat  in  the  north  sea,  been  dashing  through  the  moun- 
tains of  ice,  in  order  to  harpoon  his  hypothetical  whale, 
or  catch  it  with  the  delicate  bait  of  a  sweet  \'\ii\e  flying 
fish,  which,  like  the  phantom  of  a  soldier's  dream,  it  has 
been  dancing  on  the  lawn  before  the  palace  of  Doctor 
Deist,  viewing  the  vibration  of  the  wings  of  a  fire-fly, 
till  he  had  almost  lost  sight  of  the  New  Testament. 

Now  this  book,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  is  the 
most  marvellous  production  in  the  world,  irrespective 
of  its  miracles,  and  by  way  of  argumentative  courtesy, 
we  lay  them  all  out  of  the  question:  but  still  admire 
the  purity  of  its  doctrine,  the  sublime  simplicity  of  its 
language,  chaste  style,  and  holy  precepts,  exalted 
axioms  :  all  richly  embellished  with  the  flowing  drapery 
of  the  most  exalted  philanthropy ;  and  highly  tinctured 


416  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

with  the  empyrean  shade  of  universal  benevolence,  that 
has  ever  before,  or  since  been  presented  to  the  vievs^  of 
mankind,  in  the  walks  of  life.  And  when  we  do  but 
glance  at  the  foregoing  category,  of  the  excellencies 
which  the  gospel  presents  to  our  mind,  we  pause  ;  we 
often  as  it  were  hesitate,  which  is  the  most  brilliant 
gem  in  the  crown  of  Christ ;  or,  as  Solomon  says  of  his 
apples  of  gold,  in  a  basket  of  silver — which  the  glorious 
casket  of  the  gospel  presents  to  the  alfactory  nerves  of 
our  never-dying  souls ;  or  which  of  them  we  would  be 
led  to  give  the  decided  preference  to,  when  we  take  a 
calm  view  of  the  plenary  nature  of  the  promises  of 
Christ:  to  wit,  the  remuneration  of  eternal  felicity  to 
all  those  who  truly  believe  and  humbly  obey  his  reason- 
able commands  ;  contained  in  his  most  holy  and  inimit- 
able gospel !  We  are  ready  to  exclaim  with  John,  when 
the  Son  of  Man  passed  before  him,  out  of  the  felicitous 
element  of  language  that  was  floating  before  his  mind, 
he  made  choice  of  this  idea :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  !" 

Now,  christian  friends,  indulge  me  to  educe,  by 
placing  in  your  view,  the  altitude  of  his  claims,  to  more 
honour  than  Abraham,  Moses,  the  prophets,  and 
Angels ;  none  of  whom  ever  dare  claim  divine  honours 
of  any  of  God's  intelligent  beings:  to  wit,  all  our  oflTer- 
ings,  prayers  and  petitions  to  heaven,  must  be  present- 
ed to  Almighty  God  in  no  other  name,  but  that  of 
Jesus  Christ.  And  that  in  case  of  delinquency,  and 
lack  of  the  most  plenary  affiance  in  his  promises,  and 
disobedience  to  his  commands,  when  this  same  Christ, 
from  the  altitude  of  his  authority,  has  threatened  the 
unbelieving  sinner,  the  fastidious  philosopher,  the  insi- 
dious Deist,  and  the  invidious  and  scoffing  Atheist,  to 
lay  an  embargo  of  Hell-fire  on  this  belligerant  squadron, 
by  sending  his  torpedoes  among  them,  that  will  be- 
numb their  scofl^ing  tongues  ;  so  that  they  will  not  have 
one  word  to  say.  The  motto  on  board  the  fire-ships 
i*eads  thus  :  *'  Knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall  come 
in  the  last  days,  [to  wit,  1832,]  scoffers;  saying,  Where 
is  the  promise  of  his  coming  1  For  since  the  fathers  fell 
asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  be- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  417 

ginning  of  the  creation  !"  But  the  old  captain,  in  his  rife 
language,  gives  us  a  synoptical  view  of  their  last  end : 
"  The  heavens  and  the  earth  which  are  now,  by  the  same 
word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire  against  the 
day  of  judgment  and  perdition"  of  Deists  and  Atheists. 
And  that  this  said  Christ,  will  embargo  these  scofhng 
sinners  in  the  last  days,  in  the  royal-port  of  Satan : 
where  no  cautious  quarantine  laws  will  bj  suffered  to 
keep  off  the  gnawing  Cholera,  of  Hell-fire,  forever. 

Now,  what  a  most  heaven-daring  and  awful  deceiver 
Christ  must  have  been,  if  he,  as  the  guards  reported, 
was  stolen  by  his  disciples  out  of  the  sepulchre  !  But, 
if  the  final  verdict  of  the  court  of  Areopagus  shall  be 
confirmed  by  Almighty  God,  and  that  this  very  Christ, 
whom  scoffing  Philosophers,  Atheists,  Deists,  and  un- 
godly men  so  cordially  despise,  has  indeed  risen  from 
the  dead  by  his  divine  power,  and  gone  into  heaven, 
till  he  shall  conie  to  judge  the  world  in  righteousness : 
then,  we  write  the  awful  and  dolorous  motto,  for  the 
foregoinf]^  gentlemen:  The  hieroglyphics  of  their  ban- 
ners will  be  :  Wo  unto  us  forever,  if  Christ  rose  from 
the  dead  ! ! !  Then  what  horror,  what  yelling  and  how- 
ling there  will  be  hetween  decks,  and  screeching  aloft, 
in  the  tops,  yard  arms  and  ringing  on  board  the  ships, 
which  constitute  the  Atheistical,  Deisticai  and  Philo- 
sophical squadrons,  when  they  see  the  sign  of  the  cross 
in  the  haven  of  glory,  by  which  captain  Omnesimus 
obtained  the  complete  victory,  over  the  combined 
squadrons  of  the  three  belligerants'  enemies;  that  had 
been  waging  this  long  unbelieving  war,  against  the 
works,  providence,  mercy,  grace  and  kindness  of  God; 
towards  a  sinful  and  dying  world,  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  But  this  once  indissoluble  lying  hyra,  shall 
then  be  cut  asunder,  bv  the  power  and  wraitifshaQod 
and  Christ.  ^  <;  ^hallr-c< 

Our  inference  is  this :  that  heaven,  hell,  c.  *Vd  feli- 
city, or  everlasting  wo,  with  the  immortality  of  all  the 
human  family,  does  most  onerously  converge  on  this 
simple  conclusion,  or  single  point:  to  wit,  did  or  did 
not  Christ  find  his  way  out  of  the  sepulchre  by  his 
divine  power? 


418 


Christ  rejected. 


No.  1.  The  ship  of  war,  of  the  first  rate,  120  guns  ;  commanded 
by  captain  Atheist. 

No.  2.  The  ship  of  war,  second  rate,  90  guns  ;  commanded  by 
captain  Deist. 

No,  3.  The  ship  of  war,  third  rate,  75  guns  ;  commanded  by 
captain  Rabbi  the  Jew. 

No.  4.  The  g-ospel  ship  of  war,  fourth  rate,  44  guns  ;  commanded 
by  captain  Onesimus,  tlie  christian  sailor. 

No,  5.  An  ang-el  from  the  clouds  presents  to  Captain  Onesimus, 
a  vivid  coindicaiion  of  the  cross,  in  the  hour  of  battle  ;  and  tells  him 
tofig-ht  on  and  conquer;  and  in  the  use  of  the  language  of  Caesar, 
**I  came,  I  saw,  I  overcame." 

No.  6.  The  Gospel  ship  having  gained  the  victorj'  over  the  com- 
bined sl)ips  of  the  enemy,  with  her  colours  flying  ;  with  the  sig-n  of 
the  cross  in  its  Tvhite  Jiehl,v\d'\ug  at  anchor  in  the  port  of  Zion. 

No.  7.  The  Jewish  ship  dismantled  in  the  battle,  and  in  great  dis- 
tress, with  her  colours  falling  ;  in  token  of  submission  to  Christ. 

No,  8.  The  Deistical  ship  dismantled  in  the  battle,  and  in  great 
distress  ;   in  a  sinking  coiichtioii. 

No,  9.  The  Atheistical  ship  dismasted,  and  sinking,  to  rise  no 
more.  g]5{\e  motto  on  her  colours  is  :  "  let  ua  eat  and  drinky  for  to- 
mor*  "    J.     ^'s,"  but  to  their  surprise  they  open  their  eyes  in  helljire/ 

isSi'.IOing  ,nt  Calvary  and  the  three  crosses. 

No.  lUBir  tf»dark  mountains,  covered  with  fogs  and  clouds  for- 
ever. 

No.  12.  The  sun  and  stars,  in  the  hcave'ns  of  the  age  of  Reason, 
afford  neither  light  nor  aid  to  the  Deist,  in  the  hour  of  battle. 


CHRIST  REJECTED. 


Captain  Onesimus,  sendeth  greeting  to  the  remnant  of  the 
twelve  tribes,  which  are  scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of 
the  earth. 

May  it  benignly  please  your  grace,  Rabbi  Jew,  and  those 
of  your  people,  who  are  at  this  moment  scattered  over  the 
earth ;     Now  our  old  weather-beaten  shipmate,  we  are  glad 


No.  1.  Represents  the  Jewish  nation,  offering  up  their  national 
sacrifice  or  burnt  offering. 

No.  2.  Moses  standing  on  Mount  Nebo,  gives  the  Jewish  nation  the 
following  rife  answer :  '•  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  they  have  well 
spoken  :  I  will  raise  them  up  a  prophet  from  among  their  brethren, 
like  unto  thee,  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  tliat  whosoever  will  not 
hearken  unto  my  words,  which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I  will  re- 
quire it  of  him."     Deuteronomy,  chap.  18.  ver   17,  18,  19. 

No.  3.  Isaiah  standing  on  the  mount  of  prophecy,  in  the  land  of 
Israel,  with  one  liand  directing  the  Jewish  nation  to  Christ  crucified, 
on  mount  Calvary,  and  informs  them,  that  the  Lord  himself  shall  give 
you  a  sign  from  Heaven  .  to  wit,  "  Behold  a  virgin  shall  conceive 
and  bear  a  Son,  and  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel :"  that  is,  God 
with  us,  in  human  form.     Isaiah  chap.  7,  verse  14. 

No.  4.  The  boat  belonging  to  the  gospel  ship,  carrying  captain 
Onesimus'  farewell  letter  onshore.  The  officer  of  the  boat  de- 
livers the  letter  to  the  Jewish  sentinel,  who  stands  on  a  small  moun- 
tain, near  mount  Sinai  in  Arabia. 

No- 5.  The  gospel  ship,  on  board  of  wliich  Onesimus  writes  his 
valedictory  letter  to  the  Jewish  nation. 


4*20  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

to  hear  that  you  are  still  in  this  mundane  dispensation,  and 
among  the  living  ;  although,  all  your  old  acquaintances,  the 
Assyrians,  Chaldeans,  the  Medes  and  Persians,  Grecians  and 
Romans,  with  many  other  minor  nations  and  small  kingdoms 
of  the  earth,  who  were  your  old  friends  and  neighbours, 
if  1  have  been  correctly  informed,  have  left  the  shores  of  time, 
and  been  transported  over  the  blue  sea  of  death  ;  so  as  to 
lose  their  visibility  among  the  nations  of  the  earth:  and  in 
the  lamentable  language  of  one  of  the  servants  of  Job :  your 
national  nudity  mourns  to  the  whole  world.  You  only,  of 
all  your  old  friends,  neighbours  and  acquaintances,  are  left  to 
tell  the  dolorous  tale,  of  the  many  storms  and  distresses 
through  which  you  have  passed,  during  a  tempestuous  voyage 
of  eighteen  hundred  years. 

What  a  miracle  of  mercy,  old  shipmate,  hath  God  mani- 
fested towards  you  as  a  nation,  as  well  as  a  literal  fulfilment 
of  your  own  Scriptures,  and  a  striking  co-indication  of  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel,  that  you  have  not  been  destroyed  by  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  and  the  ravages  of  time,  that  has  so  en- 
tirely laid  waste  the  kingdoms  and  visibility  of  ail  your  old 
neighbours,  we  have  referred  you  unto.  And  when  you, 
Rabbi,  do  for  one  moment  reflect,  on  the  many  deleterious 
revolutions  that  have  passed  over  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
in  which  your  grace,  with  your  people,  have  been  by  a  sin- 
gular and  mysterious  providence,  scattered  abroad  on  the  face 
of  the  earth:  And  old  shipmate,  art  thou  still  alive?  Seeing 
then  that  this  is  the  case,  in  the  great  chapter  of  the  mer- 
cies of  God,  towards  you  and  your  people ;  then  venerable 
friend,  pray  possess  an  equanimity  of  spirit;  be  calm  in  your 
mind,  for  a  few  moments,  while  we  shall  humbly  and  simply 
state,  a  few  of  the  ideas  of  a  poor  Christian  Sailor,  before 
your  view,  in  our  sailor-like  v/ay  of  treating  theological 
matters,  or  if  you  please,  religious  things.  Item  the  first, — 
There  is  one  small  thing  about  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  we  Christians  call  the  Son  of  the  most  high  God,  that 
was  so  very  notorious,  that  the  greatest  enemies  of  Christ, 
who  are  in  a  sane  state  of  mind,  and  at  the  same  time  pos- 
sessing the  ordinary  means  of  historical  information,  will  not, 
we  humbly  presume,  be  so  entirely  skeptical,  as  to  catego- 
rically deny:  To  wit — that  the  awful  tragedy,  of  the  suf- 
ferings and  death  of  Christ,  and  that  too  in  the  most  possible 
public  manner,  by  the  act  of  crucifixion,  in  the  well  known 
days  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  by  the  agency  of  Pontius  Pilate,  the 
then  Roman  Governor  of  your  country, — having  the  civil 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  421 

and  military  authority  of  the  province  of  Judea,  in  the  full- 
est sense  of  the  word,  under  his  immediate  control. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  grace  and  with  you,  your  people 
the  Jews,  who  are  still  scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  to  indulge  us  to  state  before  your  good  sense,  that  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ,  as  a  most  notorious  malefactor,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  being  by  your  forefathers,  falsely  charged 
with  spreading  a  spirit  of  effervescence  among  the  people, 
against  the  true  worship  of  the  God  of  Israel,  as  command- 
ed by  Moses  :  and  the   rife  spirit  of  your  zealous  forefath- 
ers, also  charged  him  with  being  an  enemy  to  Caesar's  per- 
son, and  of  exciting  a  contumacy  throughout  his   govern- 
ment,   because    at  times,   he   called  himself  a  king  :  which 
brings  to  our  mind  the  case  and  conduct  of  the  Grecian  con- 
queror, to  the   bold  and  magnanimous  Porus :  for  although 
Alexander  had  by  the  physical  grasp,  and  muscular  strength 
of  his  lion-like  paw,  torn  his  crown  and  kingdom  from  him  ; 
yet  the  philosophy  and  energy  of  his  noble  mind,  remained 
unconquered.     So  that  when  this  prowling  lion,  through  the 
nations  of  the  earth,   signified  (by  the  agency  of  his  fawn- 
ing satellites  and  servile  minions)  to  Porus,  to  go  in  person 
to  the  royal  tent  of  the  proud  conqueror,  and  crave  his  Prince- 
ly favour  and  clemency  towards  him.     He   at    first    sternly 
refused  to  go  :  but  being  onerously  solicited  by  the  servants 
of  this   tilt-hammer,  who    broke    the    small    and   large  na- 
tions of  the  earth  to   pieces — after   some  hesitation,  Porus 
was  prevailed  on  to  go,    and    meet  this  vain  demagogue, 
who    placed    himself  at    the    head    of  the    Princes    of  the 
earth  :  and  when  the  two  unconquerable  heros  met,  Alexan- 
der desired  to  know  of  Porus,  in  what  way  or  manner  he 
wished  to  be  treated  ?  As  a  king,  replied  the  robbed,  but  un- 
conquered Porus.  But,  said  the  plundering  lion,  [of  the  feebler 
nations  of  the  earth,]  desirest  thou  no  other  favour  of  me  ? 
When  Porus  iterated  again  and  again — as  a  king.    When  it 
came  to  pass,  that  Porus,  by  the  repeated  strokes  of  his  stern 
andunpliant  philosophy,  made  the  dull  brains  of  Alexander,  so 
far  at  least,  to  dilate,  that  there  was  at  last,  sea  room  enough 
in  his  understanding  to  engrave  this  sententious  idea  on  his 
mind,  that  to  be  treated  as  a  king,  embraced  all  the  honour, 
power  and  glory  of  a  kingdom,  in  the  most  plenary  sense  of 
the  word. 

Now,  venerable  friend,  this  is  the  moral  of  the  foregoing 
anecdote  I  have  referred  your  grace  unto :  what  a  great  pity, 

2if 


422  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

your  forefathers  did  not  treat  Jesus  Christ  as  a  king,  after 
you  had,  by  the  sword  of  the  Romans,  taken  away  his  hon- 
our,  power  and  glory,  as  an  earthly  Prince  from  him  !  But,  as 
in  the  case  of  Porus,  his  soul  still  remained  an  in  expugna- 
ble  empire  within  himself,  irrespective  of  his  loss  of  earth- 
ly glory,  which  your  pugnacious  forefathers  could  never 
conquer.  Then,  old  shipmate,  go  thou  and  do  as  Alexander 
did,  in  the  case  of  Porus;  restore  to  Jesus  Christ  all  his  di- 
vine rights,  honours  and  glory,  and  help  to  enlarge  his  king- 
dom on  the  earth.  Therefore,  it  was  this  part  of  the  con- 
duct of  your  forefathers,  that  was  the  cause  of  giving  so 
great  a  share  of  notoriety,  to  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ ; 
so  that  no  one  act  of  mankind,  since  the  words  and  acts  of 
men  have,  through  the  medium  of  the  historical  page,  and 
assiduous  pen  of  the  scribe,  been  handed  down  to  our  times, 
brings  with  it  so  great  a  flood  of  collateral,  circumstantial, 
and  positive  evidence,  as  the  death  of  Christ  has  come  down 
to  us,  under  a  cloud  of  witnesses. 

Now,  may  it  please  your  grace,  as  the  death  and  passion 
of  this  said  Christ,was  so  well  known  to  all  men  in  and  about 
the  old  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  not  only  so,  but  to  a  vast  num- 
ber of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  from  most  of  the  distant  and 
noted  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which  leads  us  to 
admire  the  wisdom,  and  what  we  believe  to  be  the  special 
providence  of  God,  in  the  whole  arrangement  of  the  bloody 
tragedy — for  the  following  obvious  reasons :  therefore.  Rabbi, 
we  christians,  v/ithout  the  least  hesitancy,  believe  that  both 
the  mode  and  the  exact  manner  and  character  of  the  death 
of  Christ,  was  by  an  inexpugnable  concatenation  of  the  di- 
vine wisdom,  designed  on  the  part  of  a  gracious  and  cove- 
nant-keeping God,  to  give  unto  us  poor  Christian  Sailois,  on 
board  the  gospel  ship,  a  full  assurance  in  the  physical  reality 
of  the  passion  of  Christ,  in  this  public  and  notorious  manner 
of  putting  a  malefactor  to  death,  by  the  act  of  crucifixion. 
For,  may  it  please  your  grace,  if  Christ  had  died  for  our 
sins  in  any  other  manner  or  way  whatsoever,  and  his  body 
had  not  been  so  publicly  and  'savagely  butchered  to  death  on 
a  Roman  cross;  but,  instead  of  his  being  crucified,  he  had 
been  visited  with  death  by  poison,  or  strangled  or  died  after 
the  manner  of  all  the  earth,  whether  by  lingering  or  the 
awful  spasmodic  Cholera,  or  by  any  other  constuperating  dis- 
ease, or  old  age ;  then.  Rabbi,  you  might  with  some  small 
degree  of  plausibility,  on  your  side  of  our  long  controversy, 
have  in  one  of  your  risible  moods,  with  a  fastidious  sm,i]e  a  ^ 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  423 

the  weakness  of  our  understandings,  and  the  imbeciUty  of 
our  faith — in  that  case,  have  come  down  upon  us  with  a  co- 
lossus reaction,  and  said  to  us  poor  ignorant  Christians, 
Why,  your  Christ  only  passed  under  a  slight  dispensation — 
a  nebulous  trance ;  and  that  his  death  was  a  mere  sham. 
But,  venerable  friend,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,  as  you  and  your 
whole  nation  well  know,  was  publicly  slaughtered  to  death  on 
a  Roman  cross. 

Now,  Rabbi,  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  is  nothing  more  nor 
less,  than  a  full  countersign  of  an  exclamation  of  one  of  your 
own  prophets,  seven  hundred  years  before  this  said  Christ 
was  born.  The  language  employed  by  your  own  prophets, 
in  relation  to  your  promised  Messiah,  is  sufficiently  clear,  to 
to  show  to  any  rational  and  intelligent  being,  that  dose  not 
suffer  his  notional  views  of  earthly  glory,  and  religious  pre- 
possessions, with  the  private  legation  of  his  lusts  and  passions, 
to  put  out  the  eye  of  his  understanding,  that  the  Mes- 
siah, which  the  God  of  our  fathers  promises  your  nation, 
must  die ;  and  that  too,  by  some  savage  mode  of  putting  a 
malefactor  to  death :  which  we  believe,  at  the  time  of  the 
delivering  his  prophesy,  was  both  unknown  and  unpractised 
by  the  most  despotic  governments  on  the  earth  :  for,  as  yet, 
the  ingenious  elements  of  the  minds  of  the  princes  of  the 
earth,  had  not  arrived  at  the  meridian  climax  of  penal  re- 
finement in  the  science  of  cruelty.  Now,  Rabbi,  the  char- 
acter which  your  prophet  hung  otTt,  on  the  prophetical  tele- 
graph, on  the  mountain  of  Israel,  is  in  the  following  very 
significant  and  glaring  coindication  of  his  passion :  "  He  is 
brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before 
her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth,"  Isaiah 
53.  7.  Now,  Rabbi,  go  to  one  of  the  Psalms,  and  see  what 
your  royal  saint,  king  David,  has  to  say,  who  wrote  about 
three  hundred  years  antecedent  to  the  days  of  Isaiah  :  where 
he  gives  you  the  same  countersign,  and  exclaims,  also  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  prophet  Isaiah,  in  the  16th  verse  of  the  23d 
Psalm :  ■'  They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet :"  Now,  ven- 
erable friend,  both  David  and  Isaiah  are  fully  justified  in  their 
views  and  declarations,  by  a  much  later  coadjutor  in  the  pro- 
phetical office  and  ministry :  Zechariah  gives  you  the  third 
countersign,  and  exclaims  in  full  accordance  with  David  and 
Isaiah :  "  And  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have 
pierced."  Now,  Rabbi,  with  your  whole  nation,  this  is  the 
simple,  but  plain  and  straight-forward  corollary,  or  if  you  like 


424  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

the  idea  better,  the  obvious  conclusion  that  we  draw — to  wit : 
that  the  Jewish  prophets,  with  their  unanimous  voice  (that 
is,  David,  Isaiah  and  Zechariah,)  declare,  and  with  one  and 
the  same  sign,  set  forth  and  point,  as  with  the  finger  of  Heav- 
en, the  Jewish  nation  to  a  crucified,  holy  and  spiritual  Mes- 
siah ;  whosoever  he  is,  or  when  he  shall  make  bis  appear- 
ence  in  this  world.  That  he,  their  predicated  and  long  pro- 
mised Messiah,  must  have  both  his  hands  and  his  feet  pierc- 
ed. And  we  both  ask  and  humbly  solicit  your  theological 
honour's  good  sense,  what  other  mode  we  would  humbly  pray, 
of  putting  a  malefactor  or  human  being  to  death,  will  answer 
as  a  countersign  to  the  coindication  your  own  prophets  have 
given  you,  of  the  awful  and  tragical  death  of  your  promised 
Messiah,  but  the  solitary  mode  of  crucifixion,  in  which  both 
the  hands  and  feet  of  Jesus  Christ  were  pierced  on  a  Roman, 
cross  ? 

Well,  Rabbi,  w^e  will  say,  that  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  in 
the  offerings  and  signs  they  use,  with  the  four  gospels  of  the 
Christian  theology,  all  point  to  one  and  the  same  sign,  in  the 
tragical  life  and  death  of  your  Messiah ;  so  that.  Rabbi,  you 
may,  if  your  grace  pleases,  take  up  the  telescope  of  com- 
mon sense,  and  if  in  your  old  days  you  should  only  retain 
half  the  vision  of  a  theological  eye,  you  may  read  and  see 
for  yourself,  that  the  four  gospels,  written  by  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke  and  John,  do  all  invariably  direct  your  theolo- 
gical grace,  with  that  of^our  whole  nation,  to  the  very  self 
same  signs,  which  your  own  Kings  and  Prophets  have  writ- 
ten, on  all  the  telegraphs  of  prophesy,  they  set  up  in  the 
land  of  Israel.  So  you  see.  Rabbi,  that  the  four  gospels 
have  only  published  to  the  world  the  history  of  the  synopsis, 
which  your  own  prophets  have  written  of  the  tragical  life, 
and  death  of  your  Messiah  on  earth.  So  that  if  your  pro- 
phets had  dipped  their  pens  in  his  blood,  in  a  literal  sense,  as 
your  Messiah  hung  and  bled  on  a  Roman  cross,  they  could 
not  have  been  more  plain  in  their  describing  the  same.  And 
now,  with  all  due  deference  to  the  Jewish  people,  with  their 
Rabbi,  (that  is,  the  whole  priesthood)  we  do  obsequiouly  and 
humbly  inform  you,  that  our  conclusion  and  inference  is  this, 
that  the  predictions  of  your  own  prophets,  do  all  converge 
their  colossus  weight,  of  the  most  irrefragable  testimonj^,  on 
your  calm,  and  [we  would  charitably  believe]  reflecting 
mind,  and  say,  that  we  hope  you  will  seriously  admit,  and  re- 
ceive  our  humble,  but  rational  conclusion,  so  clearly  granted 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  425 

by  your  own  prophets;  to  wit,  That  if  David,  Isaiah,  and 
Zechariah  in  particular,  and  all  the  rest  of  your  prophets  in 
general,  with  3*our  Moses  at  their  head,  have  all,  when  re- 
fering  to  the  life  and  death  of  your  long  promised  Messiah, 
whether  the  prophets  in  their  reference  to  him,  called  in  to 
assist  the  category  which  God  promised  to  your  lathers,  their 
own  figurative  language,  as  the  natural  signs  of  what,  by  the 
afflatus  of  the  holy  spirit  of  God,  caused  to  pass  before  their 
minds,  or  they  were  commanded  by  the  God  of  Israel,  to  call  in 
to  assist  the  imbecility  of  their  understandings,  respecting  the 
true  nature  and  character  of  your  promised  Messiah,  the 
exhibition  of  types  and  ceremonies,  which  in  the  major  part, 
consisted  in  the  offering  up  of  sacrifices  and  burnt  offerings ; 
so  that  if  your  forefathers,  with  all  your  prophets,  had  been 
located  under  the  Roman  cross,  on  which  the  man  Christ 
Jesus  was  crucified,  which  leads  us  to  admit  the  relevancy 
of  the  foregoing  remarks,  from  a  rife  synopsis  which  one  of 
your  own  prophets  has  given  us  of  his  own  tragical  end,  viz. 
"he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death,"  just  as  if  your  prophet 
had  dipped  his  pen  in  the  crimson  fluid,  that  rushed  in  a  cur- 
rent of  mercy,  to  wash  away  the  sins  of  a  guilty  world,  as 
he  hung  on  the  cross. 

Now  the  simple  and  straight  forward  question,  we  young 
Christian  sailors  put  to  the  venerable  post  captain  of  the 
Jewish  ship,  both  to  himself  and  all  his  ship's  crew,  or,  if  our 
marine  ideas  are  rather  repulsive  to  your  theological  sensi- 
bilities, we  will  say  your  grace  ;  and  your  nation,  we  iterate 
the  question,  and  ask  you,  venerable  friend,  that  if  your  pro- 
phets had  been  favoured  with  a  special  location  under  the 
cross  of  Christ,  whether  they  would  have  been  able  to  have 
given  you,  as  a  people,  a  more  vivid  and  animated  portrait  ? 
and  at  the  same  time,  to  come  under  the  class  of  type,  figure, 
metaphor,  and  prophesy,  a  more  literal,  as  well  as  a  natural 
description  of  the  passion  of  Christ — with  all  the  dolorous 
and  deleterious  circumstances,  that  closely  followed  in  the 
wake  of  that  awful  catastrophe.  So  that,  please  your  grace, 
we  are  involuntarily  led  to  this  conclusion :  that  it  is  one  of 
the  most  incontestible  evidences,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most 
irrefragable  proof,  that  the  pens  of  your  holy  prophets,  were 
all  under  the  helm  and  steerage-way  of  the  holy  spirit  of  the 
God  of  Israel :  so  that,  even  one  of  your  prophets  should, 
within  the  small  compass  of  one  short  chapter,  namely — the 
fifly-third  of  Isaiah,  be  able  to  give  us  a  rife  synopsis,  or 
2n=* 


426  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

concise  history  of  the  death  of  Christ,  seven  hundred  years 
before  his  tragical  sufferings  on  a  Roman  cross,  and  to  plainly 
educe  before  our  view,  such  a  natural  and  literal  fac-simile 
of  his  expiatory  sacrifice,  with  all  the  expressive  features 
and  dolorous  lineaments,  of  the  pale  and  cadaverous  coun- 
tenance of  Christ,  in  the  hour  of  his  passion.  This  prophet, 
sir,  in  the  same  chapter,  gives  us  poor  short  sighted  Chris- 
tiansj  a  most  lively  and  glowing  portrait  of  his  Divine  person, 
just  as  he  was  entering  under  this  nebulous  and  mysterious- 
canopy  of  the  Providence  of  that  God,  whose  judgments  are 
unsearchable,  and  the  way  which  he  takes  to  save  a  lost  and 
ruined  world,  past  finding  out — when  Christ,  the  Lamb  of 
God,  thus  entered  upon  his  mediatorial  work,  as  the  only  Sa- 
viour of  Jews  and  Gentiles.  We  are  led,  therefore,  to  draw 
this  conclusion;  that  the  four  histories,  more  commonly  call- 
ed the  four  Gospels,  written  by  the  followers  of  the  Son  of 
God,  have  not  added  a  single  lineament  to  his  redeeming 
features,  nor  one  cardinal  doctrine  to  his  vicarious  sufferings 
and  atoning  work,  which  are  not  found  noted  down  by  your 
own  seers,  concerning  that  bloody  tragedy  and  awful  ca- 
tastrophe, of  the  sufferings  and  passion  of  Christ. 

Therefore,  Rabbi,  with  your  whole  nation,  we  pray  you 
kindly  for  once,  back  your  inain  topsail  against  the  masts  of 
your  Jewish  ship,  so  as  to  deaden  her  way  ;  as  we  preceive  she 
is  still  under  a  heavy  press  of  sail — driven  by  the  furious  blasts 
of  unbelief,  and  dashing  through  the  tempestuous  sea  of  life  ; 
while  we  poor  Christian  sailors  humbly  ask  your  grace  and 
his  nation,  this  very  plain  and  simple  question:  Why  did 
not  your  forefathers  contradict  Matthew,  who  wrote  his  Gos- 
pel in  Jerusalem,  not  more  than  twenty  5  ears  after  the  pas- 
sion or  crucifixion  of  Christ  1  who,  in  the  same  gospel,  does 
so  most  onerously  and  notoriously  charge  the  Jews  of  that 
great  cit}^,  with  the  priesthood  and  nation  at  large,  with  hav- 
ing been  the  irascible  agents  of  procuring  at  the  hand  of 
Pilate,  the  then  Roman  governor  of  Judea,  the  cruel  and 
savage  murderer  of  their  own  legitimate  and  lawful  Messiah  ? 
We  ask  the  simple  question  again :  Why  then,  in  the  name 
of  common  sense,  did  not  your  nation  and  priesthood,  with 
the  ecclesiastical  power  they  had  at  that  time  the  most  plena- 
ry  possession  of,  bring  a  reaction  on  Matthew's  historical, 
synopsis,  he  calls  his  gospel,  and  nip  the  evil  in  the  bud  !  and 
publish  to  the  world,  that  the  Jews,  as  a  church  and  nation, 
with  their  holy  priesthood,  were  all  entirely  innocent  of  the 
charges,  that  Matthew  and  his  little  history,  which  he  has, 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  427 

published  to  the  world,  of  the  asperity  and  cruelty  of  the 
Jewish  nation  and  Priesthood,  towards  their  own  Messiah  ? 
But,  Rabbi,  the  entire  silence  of  your  nation,  and  your  re- 
ligious hierarchy,  in  the  days  of  your  forefathers,  looks  like 
the  dirge  of  your  national  guilt;  in  their  not  seizing  this 
yearling,  or  young  gospel  Lion,  (of  falsehood  as  you  call  it,) 
by  the  rnane,  in  his  almost  nascent  state,  before  it  issued  into 
life,  while  the  national  Lion  of  the  Jewish  priesthood,  was  at 
the  same  time  at  the  age  of  maturity  ?  and  then  fully  expose 
to  the  world,  the  glaring  falsehoods,  with  which  I\Iatthew  in 
his  gospel  had  charged  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  as  acting  against 
their  own  Messiah. 

Now,  Rabbi,  suffer  us  to  say,  at  least  in  a  soliloquy,, 
these  things  have_  what  we  christian  sailors  call  a  squally 
look,  under  the  lee  bow,  as  if  there  were  some  dangerous 
theological  rocks,  along  the  ironbound  coast  of  your  unbe- 
lief, where  you  have  in  your  old  Jewish  theological  ship, 
been  as  it  were  beaten  on  and  ofF,  for  lo  !  these  eighteen  hun- 
dred years ;  and  captain,  while  the  ship  rides  easy,  with  her 
topsails  a  back  on  her  mast,  we  poor  christian  sailors 
will  present  to  the  audibility  of  our  old  shipmate,  that  is  the 
Jewish  Rabbi,  one  more  idea  relating  to  the  person  of  Christ, 
which  is  as  follows ;  to  wit — that  no  other  person  or  being  in 
human  form,  either  among  the  Jews  or  gentiles,  that  has  to 
this  day  condescended  to  come  and  pay  a  friendly  or  an  offi- 
cial visit  to  our  world,  has  shown  forth  in  every  collateral 
circumstance,  such  direct  and  obvious  signs  of  his  being 
your  national  IMessiah,  which  Christ  Jesus  has  placed  before 
both  Jews  and  gentiles,  and  the  whole  world,  in  every  parti- 
cular thing,  that  Vrere  directly  or  indirectly,  associated  with 
his  birth,  life,  doctrine,  works,  or  what  are  more  commonly 
called,  his  miracles.  So  that,  please  your  grace,  there  is 
such  a  complete  symmetry  in  every  expression  of  his  fea- 
tures and  lineament,  in  both  his  person  and  character,  as  to 
answer  every  sign,  metaphor  and  mysterious  hieroglyphick 
of  your  prophets,  to  a  perfect  counter-sign  and  most  plenary 
fac-simile  of  the  whole — which  Moses  and  all  the  prophets 
have,  either  by  signs  or  words,  spoken  or  vvritten  about  your 
Messiah ;  all  concentrating  in  the  person,  acts  and  character 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  which  has  never  to  this  day  met  in  any 
other  individual  than  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God. 

And  now,  may  it  please  your  grace,  who  has  the  comnaand 
of  the  theological  ship  of  the  Jews,  to  brace  her  yards  and 
und  fill  her  sails ;  so  that  we  may  press  ahead  under  easy 


428  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

sail,  till  we  get  out  of  these  gloomy  latitudes  of  the  passion 
of  Christ,  and  the  soul's  immortality,  into  the  more  tangible 
latitudes  of  silver  and  gold  ;  which,  venerable  friend,  no  doubt 
will  be  a  more  felicitous  and  congenial  subject,  to  hold  for  a 
few  moments  a  desultorious  conversation  :  We  think  we  hear 
you  say,  with  all  my  heart,  young  friends.  Well  then,  if 
you  will  indulge  us  minors,  who  at  times  experience  a  pre- 
dilection  to  let  our  vibrating  member,  called  the  tongue,  in- 
dulge freely,  when  we  happen,  at  sea,  to  fall  in  company  with 
a  strange  sail,  and  the  captain  has  a  little  etiquette  and  ur- 
banity about  him,  so  as  to  indulge  in  a  new  latitude  of  con- 
versation.— I  will  begin,  venerable  friend,  by  remind- 
ing you,  that  when  your  forefathers  left  the  land  of  bondage, 
that  they  borrowed  all  the  gold  and  silver,  and  gems  of  the 
ladies  of  ancient  Egypt:  well,  be  that  as  it  may.  Rabbi,  we 
only  give  it  as  we  find  it.  Now,  the  simple  question  we  wish 
to  put,  both  to  yourself  and  your  whole  nation,  is  this,  and  by- 
way of  bringing  down  and  accommodating  our  views  to  our 
old  shipmate,  on  this  interesting  subject :  suppose,  venerable 
friend,  you  had  lent  without  interest,  to  your  friend,  [as  you 
supposed,]  a  small  sum  of  money ;  but  in  order  to  give  it  a 
definite  valuation,  we  will  say  five  English  guineas,  and  as 
we  know  of  no  better  way  to  illustrate  our  subject,  please 
your  grace,  than  doing  as  Balak,  king  of  the  Moabites  did, 
when  he  sent  for  Baalam :  and  that  was,  to  place  before  the 
prophet's  mind,  the  powerful  arguments  and  prostrating  ora- 
tory, which  the  elements  of  silver  and  gold  are,  more  or  less 
calculated  to  produce  an  irresistible  influence  on  the  mind  of 
your  grace  and  his  people :  therefore,  indulge  us  to  carry 
our  logic  into  those  mundane  seas,  where  the  precious  arti- 
cles of  silver  and  gold  swim  on  the  surface  of  those  ephe- 
meral waters. — Now,  venerable  friend,  suflTer  or  rather  in- 
dulge us  to  say,  while  we  perceive  your  grace  is  in  a  serious 
mood,  if  you  had  only  the  small  sum,  which  our  hypotheti- 
cal text  has  named :  to  wit — five  guineas,  pending  as  a  suit, 
in  any  of  our  courts  of  English  or  American  civil  law ;  and 
when  your  suit,  being  marked  on  the  docket  of  the  court  for 
trial  that  day,  was  called  for  at  the  bar,  and  your  counsel 
should  answer  ready  for  trial — and  you.  Rabbi,  at  the  same 
time,  were  sensible  that  you  had  no  other,  nor  more  legal 
testimony  to  give  in  evidence  before  the  bar  of  the  court. — 
Then,  please  your  grace,  that  vague  kind  of  evidence,  on 
which  your  reverence  with  your  whole  nation,  do  to  this  day 
reject  Jesus  Christ  with  such  inflexibility  of  mind,  asperity 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  429 

of  spirit,  and  tenacity  of  principle,  to  your  old  national  views 
of  a  princely  Messiah,  with  the  most  plenary  command  of 
ecclesiastical,  civil  and  military  power — swaying  an  earth- 
ly sceptre  of  universal  dominion  over  the  whole  world :  but, 
your  own  God,  Rabbi,  says  in  his  word  and  providence  to- 
wards you  as  a  disobedient  and  pugnacious  people,  this  child- 
ish and  ephemeral  toy,  be  will  never  indulge  his  own  people 
the  Jews  with.  You  must,  says  God,  receive  the  manna  or 
spiritual  bread,  which  I  have  given  you  in  the  person  of  my 
son  Jesus  Christ,  or  perish  in  your  sins  forever. 

We  Christian  sailors,  once  more  humbly  and  very  obse- 
quiously, pray  the  Rabbi,  with  his  whole  nation,  who  are 
now  scattered  over  the  nations  of  the  earth,  to  be  calm  in 
their  minds  for  a  few  fleeting  moments,  and  lay  aside  that 
very  unfelicitous  asperity  of  spirit,  with  which  your  fore-fa- 
thers rejected  Jesus  Christ  at  Pilate's  bar.  But,  Rabbi,  your 
forefathers'  second  rejection  of  Christ,  after  he  rose  from  the 
dead,  marks  their  greater  sin.  Yes,  Rabbi,  and  that  too  on 
the  evidence  of  witnesses  who  were  so  honest  and  candid  as 
to  inform  you,  that  they  were  all  fast  asleep,  when  Christ 
went  out  of  the  sepulchre. 

But,  to  return  again  to  the  five  guinea  case,  we  are  led  on  by 
the  sheer  principles  of  truth  and  equity,  to  suppose  then,  that 
in  order  to  prove  the  justness  and  legality  of  your  claim 
against  the  defendant,  or  the  person  you  lent  the  five  gui- 
neas to,  who  now  denies  the  debt  in  your  suit  against  him: 
and  when  your  counsel  rose  to  address  himself  to  the  judge 
and  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  [we.  Rabbi,  for  argument  sake, 
to  bring  the  subject  right  home  to  your  heart  and  con- 
science,] your  counsel  should  employ  the  self  same  lan- 
guage, in  his  plea  against  the  fraudulent  debtor,  who  ^yishes 
to  wrong  you  out  of  your  five  guineas,  which  the  Rabbi  and 
his  people,  to  this  day,  do  employ  in  order  to  reject  the  clear 
evidence  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead:  that 
is,  may  it  please  your  grace,  that  your  counsel  should  have 
to  say  to  the  judges  and  jury,  my  client's  witnesses,  in  the 
case  that  is  now  pending  before  your  learned  honours,  the 
judges  and  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  of  this  impartial  court,  it 
is  true,  they  laboured  at  the  time  my  client  lent  the  defend- 
ant  the  money,  under  some  small  physical  and  legal  disabi- 
lities ;  that  is,  please  your  honours  and  the  jury,  my  client's 
witnesses  were  all  either  blind,  deaf,  or  dumb,  who  were  pre- 
sent  at  the  time  my  client  lent  the  defendant  the  sum  charged 
in  the  indictment,  or  in  any  other  way  the  defendant  migh^ 


430  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

have  contracted  the  debt  of  the  five  guineas  with  my  cUent. 
That  is,  may  it  please  the  court,  my  client's  witnesses  were 
all  fast  asleep  at  the  time  the  contract  between  the  parties 
was  made ;  nevertheless,  please  the  court,  I  believe  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  my  client,  to  humbly  pray  this  court,  to  over  rule 
all  the  physical  and  legal  disabilities  under  which  my  client's 
witnesses  laboured ;  and  permit  me  to  educe,  by  presenting 
this  answer  to  the  court  in  favour  of  my  chent,  that,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  high  standing  of  his  person  and  character 
throughout  all  the   higher  order  of  society,  the  court  will 
be  so  kind  as  to  grant  him  judgment  against  the  defendant, 
on  the  sheer  veracity  of  his  own  testimony  before  the  bar 
of  this  court,  that  he  lent  the  defendant  the  money,  which  is 
the  debt  in  the  suit,  now  pending  at  the  bar  of  this  court. 
Now,  Rabbi,  what  would  you  or  any  one  or  more  of  your 
people,  who  well,  [we  humbly  presume,]  know  the  value  of 
money,  and  also  the  just  character  of  a  legal  claim  to  the 
same,  before  the  bar  of  any  of  our  civil  courts,  possessing 
plenary  jurisprudence  over  all  cases  of  right  and  wrong,  be- 
tween man  and  man,  so  as  to  pass  judgment  on  the  side  of 
tiuth  and  equity ;  we  humbly  ask  the  Rabbi  and  his  people 
again,  and  I  wish  to  put  the  question  within  the  precints  of 
your  own  conscience,  that  is,  What  you  would  be  willing  to 
give  to  any  attorney  at  law,  to  plead  and  advocate  the  five 
guinea  cause,  that  is  labouring,  Rabbi,  under  all  the  fore 
going  circumstances  and  legal  disabilities,  which  we  have 
signified  to  your  grace  the  small  debt  referred  to  in  the  alle- 
gory, has  so  onerously  to  labour  under. 

Now,  elder  shipmate,  or  if  it  is  more  congenial  to  your 
grace's  theological  views,  to  use  our  land  vocabulary,  we  say 
venerable  friend,  who  has  had  a  long,  and  at  times  a  very 
boisterous  passage  on  board  the  old,  almost  at  times  water- 
lugged  ship,  built  by  the  orders  of  Moses,  which  for  a  long 
season  in  a  visible  and  national  point  of  view,  has  almost  lost 
the  powers  of  locomotion,  so  that  you,  Rabbi,  with  your  peo- 
ple, have  been,  through  the  undulatory  waves  of  time,  tossed 
to  and  fro  on  the  sea  of  time ;  or,  as  one  of  your  own  pro- 
phets gave  us  a  vivid  portrait  of  your  condition,  lying  be- 
calmed in  the  midst  of  the  nations  ;  since  you  wilfully  reject- 
ed your  true  Messiah,  to  wit — that  the  providence  of  God 
shall  provide  against  losing,  like  your  old  neighbours,  your 
visibility  as  a  distinct  people,  from  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth :  yet,  at  the  same  time,  you  should  be  tossed  from  na- 
tion to  nation,  without  a  regal  port  of  entry,  to  anchor  your 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  431 

theological  ship  in,  built  by  Moses,  during  all  the  storms  that 
have  passed  over  you  :  and  permit  us  to  educe  to  your  grace's 
view,  that  the  masts,  sails  and  rigging,  of  your  old  ship,  for 
the  major  part,  consisted  of  meats,  drinks  and  divers  wash- 
ings, and  other  outward  ceremonies,  which  we  are  led  to  dis- 
tinguish by  the  surname  of  carnal  ordinances,  which  Moses, 
by  the  imperative  command  of  God,  imposed  on  your  nation 
till  the  time  of  reformation.  That  is.  Rabbi,  if  we  Chris, 
tian  sailors  have  any  understanding  of  navigating  the  gos- 
pel ship,  and  can  by  the  telescope  of  faith,  at  meridian  hours, 
take  the  sun;  we  are  led  to  conclude,  that  Moses  meant  till 
such  times  as  our  high  Admiral  had  built  the  fast  sailing  ship 
of  the  line,  called  the  Gospel. 

But,  your  nebulous  condition  as  a  nation,  and  your  strano-e 
and  mysterious  pugnacity  as  a  people, — with  your  unyielding 
spirit  to  the  voice  of  heaven,  through  Moses,  the  prophets, 
and  your  own  scriptures,  places  such  a  dark  portrait  of  your 
sins  before  our  mind  during  this  long  trial,  so  that  we  almost 
forget  that  we  are  in  court,  listening  to  the  five  guinea  suit 
before  the  bar.  We  hope  our  old  shipmate  will  graciously 
overlook  the  want  of  etiquette  and  gentlemanlike  urbanity  in 
writing  this  serious  letter  to  his  grace. 

But,  Rabbi,  keep  self  possession  of  the  equanimity  of  your 
spirit,  and  we  will  return  to  the  five  guinea  case  in  a  court 
of  civil  law.  The  very  plain  and  simple  question  we  were 
about  placing  before  the  good  sense  of  our  venerable  friend, 
who  now  sails  on  board  the  old  ^losaic  ship  of  the  line,  al- 
though she  appears,  as  before  observed,  to  have  lost  her  com- 
pass, quadrant,  and,  at  the  same,  her  helm  and  polar  star 
is  unshipped  and  obscurated  from  her  sight,  by  a  mysterious 
dispensation  of  Almighty  God  :  and  the  Jewish  ship  lavs 
rolling  on  the  dead  sea  of  time,  without  the  fire  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  to  burn  upon  the  altars  of  their  hearts :  and  we  pray 
that  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  might  fill  their  sails,  and 
once  more  give  unto  the  Jewish  nation,  the  principle  and 
power  of  locomotion  ;  in  order  that  with  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah, 
Job,  and  many  others  of  their  old  ship's  crew,  they  may  be 
blest  with  the  power  and  grace  of  those  worthies  we  have 
named  or  referred  the  Rabbi  and  his  people  unto. 

And  we  now  most  devoutly  pray,  that  the  God  of  I&rael, 
in  his  mercy,  providence,  and  grace,  will  so  far  restore  unto 
his  ancient  people  the  Jews,  their  lost  power  of  their  theolo- 
gical locomotion,  in  order  that  the  whole  ship's  crew,  officers 
and  all,  may  onoe  more  walk  with  God  through  the  riches 


4t^2  CHRIST  REJECTfiU. 

of  his  grace ;  and  that  the  God  of  Israel  would  be  gracious'- 
ly  pleased  to  grant  them,  through  Jesus  Christ,  his  only  be- 
gotten son,  their  Lord  and  national  Messiah,  the  plenitude  of 
his  power. 

And  now,  if  the  Rabbi  and  his  people  will  indulge  us  with 
their  patience,  we  will  give  an  answer  to  our  rather  imper- 
tinent interrogatory:  the  reply  which  we  are  about  framing, 
which  is  this — Notwithstanding,  Rabbi,  you  boast  so  much  of 
the  longevity  of  the  Mosaic  ship,  yet  we  are  inclined  for  once 
to  be  your  private  almoner,  and  from  the  simple  locker  of 
the  gospel  ship  of  the  line,  to  take  a  little  of  the  salt  of  com- 
mon sense,  and  then  gratuitously  place  this  idea  before  our 
venerable  old  shipmate,  that  we  think  we  hear  the  Rabbi 
and  his  people,  in  a  soliloquy  in  their  own  judgment  and  con- 
science say,  that  they  would   not  give  an  English  farthing, 
nor  an  American  half-cent,  to  any  lawyer  or  barrister  under 
the  sun,  to  plead  and  advocate  so  illegal,  so  unreasonable  and 
so  hopeless  a  cause.     Then,  old  shipmate,  take  the  cabin 
spy-glass,  and  look  well  in  the  wind's  eye  of  common  sense, 
and  then  reason  like  a  man  and  an  intelligent  being,  in  a  kind 
of  private  soliloquy;  and  then,  for  a  few  moments,  hold  an 
interlocutory  disquisition  with   your  own  good  sense  :   and 
then.  Rabbi,  let  you  and  your  people  say  to  yourselves,  is 
this  the  rife  argument  with  which  we  as  a  nation,  have  been 
waging  this  unprofitable  war  with  the  God  of  our  fore-fa- 
thers, against  ourselves  ;  for  lo  !  these  eighteen  hundred  years! 
and  at  the  same  time,  witli  the  most   tenacious  asperity  of 
words  and  virulence  of  temper,  we,  as  a  nation,  have  been 
rejecting  the   high  claims  of  Jesus   Christ,  the   son  of  the 
most  high  God,  on  the  sleepy  stolidity  of  the  guards'  testimo- 
ny!    Now,  Rabbi,  look  with  your  nation,  at  the  spurious  and 
baseless  character  of  the  evidence  with  which  you  have  reject- 
ed your  lawful  and  legitimate  Messiah  ;  even  such  kind  of  evi- 
dence  as  when  applied  to  your  five  guinea  case ;  that  for  ar- 
gument sake  we  have  placed  at  issue  in  a  court  of  civil  law; 
and  again,  we  think  we  hear  you  say.  Rabbi,  in  the  behalf 
of  yourself  and  people,  in  a  soliloquy  in  the  purlieu  of  your 
enlightened  and  intelligent  mind  ;  VVhat  would  I  give  a  young 
attorney,  or  an  old  barrister  to  plead  so  hopeless  a  cause,  in 
which  you  have  placed  my  five  guineas :  (young  shipmate, 
that    calls   himself  the   Christian  sailor,)  why,  my  young 
friend,  I  nor  none  of  my  people,  would  give  an  English  far- 
thing, or  an  American  half-cent,  to  any  civilian  under  hea- 
ven, to  expose  our  illegal  folly  at  the  bar  of  any  court  of  law 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  433 

and  equity,  under  the  sun.  Well,  we  are  happy  to  find,  that 
notwithstanding  the  many  storms  and  tempestuous  seasons, 
the  Rabbi  and  his  people  have  passed  through  for  eighteen 
hundred  years,  that  the  rigging  about  your  top-galiant  and 
royal,  is  so  little  chafed  :  and  if.  Rabbi,  our  marine  metaphor 
is  a  little  charged  with  ambiguous  words  and  signs — then, 
to  be  simple  and  plain,  we  are  glad  to  find  the  powers  of  your 
mind  are  so  little  impaired,  and  that  you  still  can  both  rea- 
son and  argue  with  accuracy  and  perspicuity,  on  those  things 
that  relate  to  your  earthly  interest,  and  indeed,  all  subjects 
that  are  of  a  sublunary  character.  Having,  then,  our  elder 
brother  and  shipmates  on  board  the  old  ship  of  the  line,  com- 
manded by  Moses,  for  once  found  you  calm  and  rational  in 
your  mind  ; — then,  Rabbi,  we  will  fill  our  theological  sails, 
and  pass  by  the  five  guinea  suit,  and  leave  the  same  with 
the  potsherds  of  the  earth ;  that  is,  please  your  grace,  the 
men  of  this  world,  who  place  all  their  happiness,  and  wea- 
ther-bound all  their  hopes  and  prospects  of  felicity,  to  the 
short  span  of  a  time  state. 

Suffer  us  to  indulge  a  rife  temper  of  mind,  and  pray  you  not 
to  let  it  be  repulsive  in  your  grace's  view,  for  your  young 
friend  and  shipmate,  to  beseech  and  humbly  pray  you  to  take 
up  that  unpliable,  and  very  often,  irascible  rule  of  infidelity 
against  Christ,  by  which  you  have  worked  all  your  dead 
reckoning  during  the  cloudy  days  of  your  long  voyage,  in 
which  the  ship  of  your  national  prosperity  has  been  entire- 
ly, by  a  nebulous  atmosphere,  obscurated,  during  the  whole 
passage  of  eighteen  hundred  years — and  your  being  unac- 
quainted with  lunar  navigation,  have  lost  your  way. 

Now,  our  prg,yer  to  you  is,  that  in  case  you  shall,  after  so 
many  fruitless  experiments,  find  that  your  Jewish  rule  will 
only  work  the  dead  reckoning,  or  if  you  please,  measure  the 
theology  of  the  gospel  one  way,  and  that  too  only  on  the  un- 
believing line :  whenever  you  apply  this  very  irritable  and 
unpliable  rule  to  the  person  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  only  begotten  son  of  the  most  high  God. 

But,  Rabbi,  when  I,  by  way  of  figure  or  metaphor,  have 
brought  the  rule  of  your  good  sense  and  intelligent  mind, 
to  the  five  guinea  case,  the  same  rule  of  your  understanding 
appears  to  be  immediately  divested  of  all  its  unpliableness 
of  nature  and  asperity  of  temper ;  therefore,  our  humble  ad- 
vice and  prayerful  counsel  to  your  grace,  with  that  of  your 
people,  if,  Rabbi,  you  think  it  is  worth  an  English  farthing, 

2o 


434  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

would  be  this :— go,  venerable  old  shipmates,  the  Jewish  na- 
tion, and  first  denude  yourself  of  all  the  rusty  trammels  of 
your  Jewish  education ;  which  has  been  handed  down  to  you 
by  the  vain,  and  also  vague  traditions  of  your  fbre-fathers, 
since  the  days  of  your  Babylonish  captivity  ;  and  now,  Rabbi, 
take  up  the  rule  and  plumb-line  of  your  old  Jewish  theology, 
as  the  day  appears  to  be  dawning  on  your  nation,  and  give 
the  subject  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead,  a 
calm,  fair,  and  at  the  same  time,  RaJ^bi,  I  pray  you,  an  im- 
partial investigation.  Go  to  work,  sire,  like  a  man,  with  the 
full  command  of  the  equanimity  of  your  spirit,  and  as  a  gen- 
tleman of  an  enlightened  and  intelligent  mind  ;  and  if  you 
still  discover  that  your  old  rule  is  entirely  formed  of  those 
unbending  elements,  which  t^till  retains  its  old  irascibility  of 
spirit,  so  that  your  rule,  in  consequence  of  its  unyielding  na- 
ture, will  only  work  on  the  retrograde  line,  or  the  backward 
point  of  the  theological  compass,  then  we  humbly  pray  the 
Rabbi  in  that  case,  to  go  and  humble  both  yourself  and  na- 
tion in  the  dust  before  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  cast  off, 
as  we  have  just  said,  all  the  false  trammels  wherewith  your 
fore-fathers  have  so  closely  bound  you  to  the  cold  iron  cha- 
riot of  unbelief,  lo !  these  eighteen  hundred  years. 

Go!  your  poor  brethren,  the  Christian  sailors  of  the  gospel 
ship,  humbly  praj^s  to  the  carpenter's  son,  [as  the  high  priest, 
Caiaphas,  and  his  irritable  and  captious  satellites,  in  their 
taunting  language  were  wont  to  call  him,  when  they  rejected 
him  at  Pilate's  bar,]  both  yourself  and  people,  and  in  the 
mournful  language  of  one  of  your  prophets,  look  on  him  whom 
your  personal  and  national  sins  and  heavy  transgressions,  have 
pierced  and  put  him  to  open  shame ;  and  mourn  in  his  Al- 
mighty and  royal  presence,  as  a  fond  mother  laments  over 
the  death  of  her  first  born  son.  For  it  is  said  of  him,  (that 
is,  Christ,)  that  all  power,  both  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth, 
are  in  his  hands.  Go  then  to  him  whom  your  fathers  in  a 
taunting  mood,  called  the  son  of  Joseph,  and  be  so  kind,  ve- 
nerable friend,  although  thou  art  a  Rabbi  of  Jewish  theolo- 
gy, and  still  remain  adhesively  orthodox  to  your  old  theism  ; 
we  still  pray  you  to  remember,  as  you  approach  him,  that 
there  is  not  only  a  striking  symmetry  of  the  family  elements 
in  the  orthography  which  constitutes  the  coindication  of  their 
names — 

But,  venerable  sire,  with  your  nation,  remember  that  our 
gospel  Joseph,  as  you  approach  him,  that  he  bears  all  the 
other  amiable  shades  of  character,  and  is  in  the  plenary  pos- 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  435 

session  of  all  the  compassionate  and  finer  feelings  of  the  be^ 
nevolent  heart  of  his  type ;  so  that  the  very  lineaments  of 
his  redeeming  and  gracious  countenance,  is  expressive  of  the 
universal  philanthropy  of  his  holy  soul.  So  that  in  the  fullest 
sense,  Jesus  Christ  rises  above  the  altitude  of  his  type,  who 
was  the  younger  son  of  your  father  Israel — in  the  kindness 
which  he  manifests  towards  his  iron-bound  and  hard-heated 
brethren,  who  sold  him  into  Egypt. 

Go  then,  venerable  friend,  both  you  and  your  people,  to 
this  young  Joseph,  the  carpenter's  son,  and  humbly  ask 
him,  to  make  you  a  new  and  a  more  pliable  rule,  out  of  the 
theological  elements  of  his  gospel,  called  faith ;  which  will 
enable  the  Jewish  captain  and  his  whole  ship's  crew,  with 
the  most  perfect  ease  to  yourselves,  to  measure  the  acme 
of  his  Messiahship  with  the  altitude  of  his  redeeming  sta- 
ture, and  the  wonderful  elevation  of  his  divine  nature,  even 
rising  in  grandeur  to  the  God-head,  which  Moses  and  your 
prophets  worshipped ;  and  by  this  new  rule  of  faith.  Rabbi, 
you  and  your  people  may  also  see,  and  behold  in  all  the  di- 
versified lineaments,  and  other  striking  features  of  his  per- 
son and  character,  a  perfect  symmetry,  and  a  full  fac-simile, 
of  what  your  Moses  and  your  prophets  have  written  on  their 
prophetical  telegraph  of  his  mysterious  hypostatical  nature; 
that  is,  your  Joseph,  or  rather  Messiah,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  a  perfect  God,  and  a  oerfect  man. 

Yes,  Rabbi,  as  we  have  already  said,  both  you  and  your 
nation,  by  this  new  rule  of  faith,  with  the  telescope  of  a  sin- 
gle eye  open  to  the  glory  of  God,  will  be  led  to  see,  as  we 
have  before  said  in  this  letter,  in  the  wonderful  life  and  cha- 
racter, the  sublime  doctrine,  holy  precepts,  inimitable  wis- 
dom and  exalted  axioms  of  Jesus  Christ,  all  associated  with 
the  most  pure  disinterested  philanthropy,  and  universal  be- 
nevolence to  all  mankind,  [but  especially  to  your  nation.  See 
the  rife  coindication  of  Paul  to  the  Jews  first,]  that  are  dis- 
posed to  receive  him.  And  as  it  is  time  to  part,  and  we  do  not 
wish  to  wear  out  our  welcome  in  this  friendly,  although  in 
some  respects,  it  may  be  viewed  our  first  desultorious  conver- 
sation with  our  old  shipmate,  the  Jewish  nation.  Therefore, 
we  will  no  longer  at  this  time,  press  the  gloomy  subject  of 
your  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart  on  the  Rabbi  ,*  and 
the  children  of  Israel,  who  are  now,  while  we  are  writing 
this  letter,  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  an  unfriendly 
world.     We  shall  now  leave  the  trial  of  the  disciples  of 


436  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

Christ,  and  this  long  letter,  with  the  Rabbi  and  his  nation, 
your  consciences  and  your  God. 

The  writer  having  communicated  what  God  hath  shown 
him,  in  a  vision,  concerning  the  unbelief  of  his  ancient  peo- 
ple, the  children  of  Israel.  The  author  first  saw  these 
things  in  a  vision,  in  the  month  of  April,  1830;  when  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,  as  he  was  viewing  West's  picture  of 
Christ  rejected,  for  about  half  an  hour.  During  which  short 
time  the  Lord  gave  him  the  plan  of  the  trial  of  the  disci- 
ples, charged  by  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  with  stealing  the 
crucified  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre.  Which  work 
I  commend  to  God  and  to  the  grace  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  with  God  the  Father,  and  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  glory,  honour,  power,  and  everlasting  domi- 
nion. Amen. 

From  on  board  a  Gospel  ship  of  the  line,  on  a  voyage  of 
discovery  over  the  tempestuous  sea  of  life,  to  the  kingdom 
of  immortality. 

Signed  by  order,  and  in  behalf  of  the  whole  ships  crew. 

CAPTAIN  ONESIMUS. 

October  l^th,  1832. 

To  his  grace,  Rabbi  Jew  and  his  whole  nation. 

[One  word  to  the  wise  men  of  this  mundane  dispensation, 
^nd  then,  Christian  shipmates,  I  will  quit  the  gloomy  tale  of 
of  a  crucfied  Christ,  and  the  distressing  idea  of  the  soul's 
immortality,  in  a  sea  letter  to  his  learned  excellency.] 

Honoured  Sir, 

May  it  benignly  please  your  excellency, — Having,  in  my 
rather  ruthless,  or  at  least  unpolished  sea-faring  manners, 
given  you  a  little  credit  in  the  log  book  of  your  ephemeral 
barque  of  life,  as  you  are  sailing  over  the  sea  of  time,  on  ac- 
count of  the  altitude  of  your  wisdom,  and  extensive  know- 
ledge of  the  great  arcanum  of  nature  :  or,  if  you  please,  this 
material  world. 

Still,  I  make  no  doubt,  sir,  but  that  your  excellency,  at 
times  experiences  your  embellished  mind  almost  embargoed 
with  perplexity,  that  oftentimes  brings  on  a  state  of  mental 
lassitude,  in  consequence  of  your  fiery  steeds  flying  through 
your  new  discovered  empyrean  regions,  in  the  glorious  age 
of  reason ;  and  especially  when  you  rise  in  your  flights  unto 
the  milky  way,  or  what  your  scientific  honour,  in  your  tech- 
nical style,  calls  a  galaxy  of  material  glory. 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  437 


But,  may  it  please  your  excellency,  does  it  not  often  hap- 
pen, that  after  some  of  your  long  morning  rides  through  the 
cold  regions  aloft,  that  breathing,  in  consequence  of  the  rare- 
fied state  of  the  ambient  atmosphere,  is  at  times  attended  with 
difficulty  ;  the  thinness  of  the  air  in  those  lofty  regions,  not 
possessing  sufficient  buoyancy  to  give  expansion  to  the  lungs, 
so  that  lassitude  often  ensues.  When,  please  your  soaring 
honour,  I  may  be  justified  in  the  use  of  a  simple  metaphor, 

No.  1.  The  temple  of  the  New  Jenisulem,  and  the  Son  of  God, 
clothed  in  h^s  prlesily  garnier.ts,  in  the  dtjor  of  the  holy  temple. 

No.  2.  The  g"ospel  ship  of  the  lint.-,  with  the  Christian  sailor  on 
board,  after  hnving'  encountered  many  storms,  g-ales,  hig-h  seas  and 
contrary  winds,  at  hist  arrives  in  sight  of  the  kini^dom  of  neaven, 
and  sees  the  I.ord  Jesas  Christ,  in  the  door  of  the  g-i-eat  temple, 
ready  to  receive  hiin. 

No.  3.  Rabbi  Jew  and  his  nation.  Their  colours  are  fdiingto  the 
earth,  indicative  that  tiiey,  as  a  nation,  have  yivea  up  all  hopes  of 
a  Princely  Messiah, 

No.  4.  Carna!  Reason  and  vain  Philosophy,  The  former  is  with 
her  soul  surcliarged  with  ch-igrin,  and  confounded  in  her-  mind,  when 
she  discovers  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  and  a  risen  Saviour  are  now 
too  true,  to  make  an  insidious  joke  of  any  long'er.  The  latter,  vain 
Philosophy,  with  her  colours  failing-  to  the  earth,  when  her  hope  is 
as  pervious  to  the  wraih  of  a  sin-hating  God,  as  a  spider's  web;  and 
the  ire  of  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,  drives  the  philosophical 
dunce  in  lier  chariot  of  vanity,  drawn  with  her  flying  steeds,  down 
from  her  starry  neavens,  like  the  falling  stick  of  a  sky-rocket,  to 
IieJp  to  kindle  the  fire  of  hell,  forever. 

2o* 


438  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

and  say,  that  you  have  to  descend,  like  the  smoky  stick  of  a 
sky-rocket,  [down  into  the  gloomy  mansion  of  death,  to  feast 
the  worms  ;]  after  it  has  expended  all  its  ephemeral  sparks,  to 
earth  again,  in  order  to  breathe  a  more  dense  air,  by  which 
you  become  so  far  convalescent,  as  to  enable  your  lungs  to 
dilate,  when  your  serious  views  may  perchance  lead  your  ex- 
cellency in  a  kind  of  prenominating,  or  if  you  please,  fore- 
casting frame  of  mind,  to  pause,  when  for  one  moment  a  pro- 
found category  presents  itself  to  your  view ;  which  led  your 
excellency's  mind,  as  an  act  of  great  condescension  on  your 
part,  to  take  an  excursive  survey,  of  what  your  scientific  ho- 
nour views,  in  both  the  physical  and  moral  government  of 
this  little  world — a  thousand  disorders,  and  ten  thousand  of 
what  you  sir,  conceive  to  be  irregularities  on  the  outer  sur- 
face of  this  world ;  and  ten  thousand  perplexing  discrepances 
in  the  various  lots  and  outward  conditions  of  the  children  of 
men  ;  which  sir,  I  make  no  doubt,  does  almost  imperceptibly 
lead  your  wise  and  reflecting  mind,  to  be  auguring  through 
the  fashionable  telescope,  so  much  in  use  in  these  days,  of 
what  the  poor  Christian  sailor,  in  his  ruthless  vocabulary, 
would  call  the  age  of  vain  Philosophy  and  deistical  risibility, 
aided  by  the  natural  unbelief  and  hardness  of  your  heart ; 
which  sin  has  most  deeply  involved  all  men,  whether  we  be 
rich  or  poor,  wise  or  sim|)le :  yet  may  it  please  your  excel- 
lency, both  at  our  birth  and  death,  we  are  all  by  the  well 
known  laws  of  gravity,  which  is  the  king  who  wears  a  sombre 
crown,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  nebulous  atmosphere ;  who 
is  called  by  the  plebeian  orders  of  society,  the  King  of  Ter-^ 
rors,  seeks  and  finds  a  common  equilibrium :  and  how  soon 
does  the  philosopher,  and  the  way-faring  man,  by  the  obrep'^ 
titious  invasion  of  time,  flow  into  one  common  level  at  last, 
notwithstanding  all  the  pride,  which  carnal  Reason  assumes 
and  arrogates  to  itself,  as  it  reclines  on  a  sofa  of  vain  Phi- 
losophy, under  a  cymmerian  canopy  of  annihilation,  like  the 
Romans  in  the  days  of  Caligula,  Claudius,  and  Nero;  who 
in  order  to  regain  the  tone  of  their  overcharged  appetites, 
as  they  lay  inclined  on  their  sofas,  often  took  an  emetic,  in 
order  to  provoke  a  vacation  of  the  delicious  articles  of  diet 
they  had  just  received ;  so  that  those  vain  and  foolish  epicures, 
might  have  the  swinish  pleasure  o(  gormandising  another 
meal ;  which  is,  wheq  moraUz;ed,  a  just  prototype  of  vain  and 
fastidious  philosophy,  that  is  continually  taking  its  emetic 
pills,  in  order  to  renew  the  tone  of  your  excellency's  con- 
science, bv  the  application  of  this  sleepy  stoliqlitj^,  in  ofder  tQ 


CHRIST  REJECTEtr.-  439 

produce  a  speedy  vacation  of  all  serious  reflecti^Qg  Qf  God, 
of  eternity,  heaven,  hell,  Christ  and  immortality  ;  bv^t  jq  the 
case  alluded  to,  the  swinish  expedient  soon  destroyed  the 
laws  of  digestion,  by  bringing  on  them  the  most  deleterious 
fevers,  and  the  awful  cholera,  which  soon  put  a  speedy  end 
to  all  their  locomotion  in  this  mundane  state.  You  may, 
please  your  excellency,  clear  your  stomach  for  a  short  sea- 
son, by  your  new  or  wonderful  catholicon  of  the  age  of  Rea- 
son, and  other  emetics  of  vain  Philosophy ;  as  was  the  case 
of  the  gormandizing  Romans,  I  have  referred  your  excel- 
lency unto. 

But,  vain  and  soaring  shipmate,  over  the  short  voyage  of 
life,  my  word  for  it,  the  man  Christ  Jesus  will  come  and  lay 
an  embargo  on  thy  tongue,  and  take  away  the  buoyancy  of 
thy  mind ;  when  you  will  experience,  that  the  power  of  lo- 
comotion, is  by  the  strong  paw  of  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Juda,  taken  away  from  you, — yes,  sire,  like  the  stick  of  the 
sky-rocket,  you  will  fall  from  the  acme  of  philosophical 
glory,  into  the  fiery  vault  of  hell ;  where  in  company  with 
Satan,  you  may  set  up  your  fastidious  risibility  at  Christ,  his 
gospel,  and  his  church  :  that  is  with  this  proviso,  that  Christ 
does  not  place  thee  in  the  dark  drawing  room  of  the  devil, 
in  a  perfect  state  of  nudity,  and  lay  an  indefinite  embargo  on 
the  locomotion  of  thy  scoffing  tongue  and  risibility  forever. 
Then,  honoured  sire,  your  vain  philosophy,  your  sly,  your 
obreptitious,  and  your  invidious  opposition  to  Christ,  the  bible 
and  immortality,  will  soon  be  at  an  end.  And  you  know 
the  country  peoples'  adage,  "  It  is  a  long  lane  that  has  no 
turn  or  end  unto  it."  I  think  I  see  you  smile  at  the  irrele- 
vancy of  my  foolish  adage ;  in  placing  this  point  of  the  theo- 
logical compass  before  your  excellency's  mind,  in  the  free  us© 
I  have  made  of  the  tautologist  elements  of  vulgar  language, 
in  my  impugning  attack  on  vain  Philosophy.  But,  sire,  when 
you  remember  my  profession  is  that  of  a  sailor,  you  will  ex- 
cuse my  weakness  in  the  choice  of  my  missiles ;  for  we  are 
in  the  habit,  when  going  to  engage  a  pirate,  and  expect  no 
quarters — and  if  our  artillery  on  the  main  battery  has  but 
one  calibre,  we  then  gather  up  whatever  comes  at  hand  ;  and 
if  we  have  a  number  of  young  cadets  on  board,  we  lell  them 
to  leave  their  books  and  pens,  fighting  in  the  lower  cabin  for 
fine  weather,  and  a  calm  sea,  and  to  come  upon  the  main 
deck  of  the  gospel  ship,  for  a  black  and  bloody  flag  is  in 
sight ;  and  load  the  guns  with  grape,  canister,  bar,  chain, 
mi  double  headed  sbotf  with  old  spikes,  crowi-bars,  and 


440  CHRIST  REJECTED. 

whatever  "'^"^es  to  hand  :— for  young  gentlemen,  we  nnust 
either  ^^estroy,  and  sink  the  pirate,  or  he  will  destroy  us. 
So  ^ftat  we  had  better  leave  grammatical  rules,  goose  quill 
missiles,  your  burning  glass,  for  a  clear  sun,  fine  weather, 
and  an  enemy:  who,  like  Archimedes,  when  the  adversary 
was  about  to  slay  him,  was  making  his  diagrams  on  the  sand  ; 
for  old  black  beard,  the  devil,  smiles  at  our  mustard  seed 
shot  doing  any  material  damage  to  old  ironsides — that  has 
been  firing  at  all  the  ships  from  the  port  of  Zion,  for  almost 
six  thousand  years. 

I  sav,  Christian  shipmate,  if  we  ever  mean  to  make  a 
breach  in  the  sides  of  the  devil's  ship  or  kingdom,  we  must, 
in  this  deleterious  and  sanguinary  war,  dispense  with  our 
grammar  rules,  and  also  give  up  the  idea  of  sinking  the  pi- 
rate, by  blowing  the  gospel  through  a  goose  quill ;  but,  ship, 
mates,  we  must  bring  forward  the  heavy  artillery,  surcharged 
with  a  living  faith,  in  the  promise  of  God,  and  with  the  bat- 
tering-ram of  holy  zoal,  propelled  by  the  powder  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ; — then,  and  not  till  then,  will  the  gospel  ship, 
or  the  church  in  her  militant  state,  be  plenarily  prepared  to 
give  to  old  ironsides,  commanded  by  old  blue  beard,  the  devil, 
the  fire  as  hot  as  he  can  sup  it.  So  much,  please  your  excel- 
lency,  I  have  written  as  a  palliation  m  my  falling  off  the 
wind's-eye  of  grammatical  accuracy,  into  the  monotonous  sea 
of  tautology :  but,  by  your  excellency's  indulgence.  I  will 
pursue  my  parable.  Now  the  poor  sailor  truly  pities  your 
poor  dving  bodies,  that  are  daily  like  some  poor  obsequious 
slave,  bowing  down  with  base  and  servile  homage,  to  that 
mandate,  which  no  other  book  but  the  bible,  ever  yet  as- 
sumed the  awful  responsibility  to  announce  in  the  ears  of  all 
men  : — "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return." 
Therefore  your  excellency  may,  it  is  true,  at  your  own  res- 
ponsibility,  pour  down  a  few  more  summer  shov/ers  of  your 
fastidious  and  insidious  risibility,  on  the  idea  of  a  revelation 
from  God ;  but  old  Moses  and  his  solitary  God,  brings  us  all 
into  the  bull-ring  in  the  slaughter-house  of  death — in  the  vo- 
cabulary of  Moses,  "  Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt 
return." 

But  your  excellency  can,  if  you  please,  pursue  your  morn- 
ing ride,  through  your  new  discovered  empyrean  regions,  in 
the  age  of  reason,  peering  with  your  deistical  eye  at  a  thou- 
sand unexplicable  omens,  which  the  altitude  of  your  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  discovers  on  the  mysterious  telegraph  of  the 
government  of  this  world  j  when  eagle-like,  your  keen  eye 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  441 

gets  so  near  the  bright  orb  in  the  solar  system  of  your  new 
philosophy — so  that  like  that  soaring  king  of  birds,  you  both 
renew  your  strength  and  vision,  and  then  you  descend  to 
earth  again,  when  your  eagle  vision  experiences  a  perfect 
state  of  convalescence,  like  that  king  of  birds ;  when,  please 
your  excellency,  you  see  a  vast  number  of  small  and  great 
discrepances,  in  the  works  and  providences  of  the  great  land- 
lord aloft,  or  the  ruler  of  the  spheres : — when  your  excel- 
lency thinks  you  see  on  the  undeciphered  telegraph  of  the 
providence  of  God,  which,  may  it  please  your  excellency, 
is  perchance  either  below,  or  perhaps  above  your  philosophi- 
cal understanding.  So  that  you  have  suffered  yourself  to  be 
led  through  the  path  of  life,  in  the  leading  strings,  [by  the 
use  of  prosopopoeia,  we  shall  give  the  name]  of  lady  chance, 
till  your  excellency  were  fully  inducted  into  the  blind  lady's 
drawing-room,  when  this  sombre  queen  comes  forth  with 
super-angelic  form,  and  invites  you  to  take  a  seat  on  one  of 
her  sable  sofas  ;  the  cushion  of  which  is  stuffed  with  the  down 
of  materialism,  the  frame  thereof  of  the  elements  of  decom- 
position, surrounded  with  the  ambient  air  of  eternal  sleep ; 
which  often  fills  the  drawing-room  of  the  sombre  queen  with 
an  aromatic  perfume.  When  this  lady  of  the  muse,  who 
presides  over  all  the  sacred  altars  of  blind  chance,  presents 
to  your  excellency,  by  the  agency  of  her  delicate  hand,  one  of 
her  cymmerian  posies,  which  her  slender  nnger»  had  plucked 
off  from  some  of  the  shrubbery  that  grow  in  the  cloudy  valley 
of  eternal  sleep ;  and  then,  please  your  scientific  excellency, 
this  sombre  queen  places  her  posy,  when  she  experiences 
one  of  her  felicitous  moods,  at  your  olfactory  nerves.  So 
that  your  learned  honour,  by  the  timely  aid  of  the  lady's 
odoriferous  refreshment  and  enchanting  sauvity  of  style,  your 
eagle  eye  and  vulture's  vision,  discovers  the  gospel  to  be 
what  your  excellency,  by  a  postulatory  carollary  in  your  fe- 
lictious  and  almost,  (indulge  me  to  say,)  amorous  moment, 
with  the  swarthy  queen,  is  gratuitously  pleased  to  call  a 
pious  fraud :  and  we  will  give  the  rest  of  the  conclusion,  for 
please  your  excellency,  I  am  full  of  my  little  sea  or  sailor 
like  puns,  so  I  will  try  to  help  the  lame  philosophers  over  the 
style  of  their  wilful  unbelief,  so  as  to  heel-tap  their  inference 
or  philosophical  corollary  for  them ;  that  is  of  course,  that 
Jesus  Christ,  whom  his  followers  call  the  Son  of  God,  was 
an  artful  and  a  vile  deceiver.  So  that  this  swarthy  queen  of 
the  cymmerian  muse,  makes  your  excellency,  whom  she 
claims  as  one  of  her  natural,  but  darling  prating  little  boys, 


442  CURIST  REJECTED. 

born,  it  is  true,  without  the  purlieu  of  wedlock :  in  early 
life,  during  an  unguarded  moment  in  a  cloudy  and  dark  even- 
ing, when  the  queen  was  overtaken  with  a  sudden  thunder 
shower  of  pride  and  vanity,  and  had  to  put  up  in  the  draw- 
ing-room  of  old  satan  ;  when  a  congress  took  place,  of  which 
vain  Philosophy  and  carnal  Reason,  were  the  twin  darlings 
of  that  season  of  sable  felicity:  and  now  the  queen  benignly 
condescends  to  grant  you,  as  one  of  her  honorary  sons,  to 
wear  her  family  escutcheon,  the  diploma  of  a  full  doctor  of 
a  deistical  school. 

And  now,  will  your  excellency  suffer  your  very  humble 
and  obsequious,  and  at  the  same  time  in  a  scientific  sense,  a 
very  unworthy  poor  Christian  sailor,  with  all  becoming  def- 
erence to  tiie  overflowing  fountains  of  your  wisdom,  with 
the  upper  and  nether  springs  of  your  scientific  knowledge; 
yet  your  philanthropic  clemency,  will  be  kindly  disposed,  no 
doubt,  to  indulge  your  poof  Christian  sailor,  to  inform  your 
excellency,  that  although  you  may,  for  an  ephemeral  season, 
suffer  3'curself  to  be  highly  diverted,  with  what  you  may  in 
your  excursive  fancy,  view  to  be  the  highest  altitude  of  phi- 
losophical glory,  as  you  stand  elevated  on  one  of  the  loftiest 
mountains  of  carnal  reason;  with  the  telescope  of  vanity  at 
your  right  eye  ;  viewing  your  new  comet,  with  its  scintil- 
lating glory  flying  off  its  trail,  as  it  pursues  its  evolutions 
round  the  brig  tit  orb  in  me  wOiiueiful  age  of  reason.  \Yheil 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt,  but  that  the  vivid  glare  of  your 
soaring  mind,  as  it  mounts  aloft,  with  the  proud  prince  of 
ancient  Babylon,  amoDJjf  the  stars  on  the  side  of  the  north; 
with  your  buoyant  mind  and  soaring  imagination,  drawn  by 
a  flying  steed,  (said  by  some  to  be  the  legitimate  descendant 
of  old  Pegasus,)  through  a  galaxy  of  undiscovered  worlds ; 
and  at  the  same  time,  your  excellency,  having  your  spirit  so 
richly  imbued  with  an  over  anxious  solicitude  for  the  interest 
and  high  concerns  of  your  extramundane  neighbours'  felicity. 
So  that,  please  your  excellency,  you  are  so  surcharged  with 
the  pure  fire  of  disinterested  philanthropy  for  your  distant 
friends,  that  you  have  bccoine  entirely  delinquent  in  seeking 
the  eternal  interest  of  your  own  soul:  while,  may  it 
please  your  excellency,  you  remain  a  tenant  in  our  little 
wig-warn  called  the  earth.  So  that  please  your  excellency, 
Christ  and  immortality,  heaven  and  hell,  God  and  a  day  of 
posting  the  accounts  of  the  voyage  of  life,  or  a  day  of  judg- 
ment, are  in  your  philosophical  calendar,  far  beneath  your 
honour's  notice.     Then  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter 


CHRIST  REJECTED.  443 

is  this,  that  your  learned  excellency  has  no  time  in  this  mun- 
dane dispensation,  to  suffer  the  subject  of  Christ  and  his  gos- 
pel, to  pass  in  a  solemn  category  before  your  view :  as  the 
whole  of  what  is  called  divine  revelation,  appears  utterly 
unworthy  the  manly  dignity  of  your  star-gazing  mind  :  so  as 
to  lower  your  philosophical  telescope,  in  order  to  take  an 
oblique  glance  at  the  low  regions,  over  which  the  clouds, 
which  are  more  or  less  surcharged  with  the  dispensations  of 
the  grace,  mercy  and  love  of  God,  are  said  to  locate  them- 
selves in  every  direction  round  our  little  satellite  called  earth  ; 
therefore,  as  a  fair  corollary,  I  am  justified  in  forecasting  in 
my  mind,  that  your  excellency  has  far  less  time  to  spare  from 
the  happy  society  and  delightful  company  of  those  more  than 
patrician  ladies,  who  constitute  that  purblind  queen  royal's 
household,  by  some  called  lady  chance. 

So  that,  please  your  excellency,  you  have  not  a  few  mo- 
ments to  spare  during  the  voyage  of  life,  for  to  give  Caia- 
phas  and  the  Roman  guards'  most  unreasonable  and  foolish 
report,  to  wit : — His  liisciples  came  by  night  and  stole  him 
while  we  slept.  I  iterate  the  sententious  thought  to  your 
rich  and  noble  mind,  that  you  have  no  time  to  spare  from 
your  high  philosophical  pursuits  and  starry  avocations,  to  let 
your  rich  and  embellished  mind,  retire  within  the  purlieu 
of  common  sense.  And  now,  for  the  last  time,  suffer  me  to 
beseech  your  excellency  to  stop  your  four  horses,  that  take 
the  lead  in  your  flying  chariot,  by  calling  to  your  posti- 
lion to  reign  up  the  flying  steeds,  while  your  excellency  takes 
a  few  moments,  and  calmly  for  once,  during  the  short  voy- 
age of  life,  put  forth  like  a  man  and  an  intelligent  being,  all 
your  noble  powers  of  ratiocination,  with  which  the  great 
landlord  aloft  has  blest  you  with  ;  and  then  give  this  sleepy 
stolidity  or  childish  tale,  of  the  disciples  stealing  the  crucified 
body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulchre,  a  fair,  candid  and  im- 
partial investigation  at  the  bar  of  common  sense;  and  hold 
like  a  man  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  a  solemn  court  of  in- 
quest  in  the  private  drawing-room,  or  rather  court,  of  your 
own  conscience,  and  before  the  bar  of  the  supreme  judge  of 
all  the  earth. 

But,  please  your  excellency,  least  I  should  rather  weary 
you  with  the  prolixity  of  marine  and  other  figurative  voca- 
bulary, by  presenting  so  sombre  a  category,  which  the  death 
of  Christ,  his  rising  from  the  dead,  and  the  immortality  of 
the  soul ;  all  which  your  excellency's  good  sense  sees,  are 
inseparably  connected  with,  as  well  as  indissolubly  associated 


444  CMRISt  REJECTED. 

with  the  stealing  the  body  of  Christ  out  of  the  sepulcure* 
And  indulge  me  to  close  my  valedictory  admonition  to  your 
philosophical  excellency,  by  obliquely  hinting,  that  if  Christ 
has  surely  risen  from  the  dead,  What,  my  star-gazing  ship- 
mate, most  awful  work  it  will  make,  and  most  deleterious 
havoc  throughout  all  the  ships,  that  constitute  the  philoso- 
phical and  the  deistical  squadrons,  who  sail  over  this  mun- 
dane sea  of  life  !  So  fare  you  well,  young  shipmate,  (Doc- 
tor Deist,)  till  perhaps  we  may  meet  at  the  straits  of  death. 
Your  excellency,  seated  in  your  richly  mounted  chariot  of 
philosophy,  drawn  by  the  flying  steeds  of  vanity,  while  your 
poor  plebeian  servant,  the  Christian  sailor,  is  sailing,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  many  storms  he  has  had  to  pass  through 
during  the  voyage  of  life,  under  at  times  his  courses,  and 
close-reefed  top-sails,  on  board  his  gospiH  ship,  wfth  his 
colours  flying  at  his  main-royal  mast  head,  written  with  this 
motto,  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead  ;  and  in  this  let  the  poor 
Christian  sailor  overcome.  So  fare  thee  well,  forever,  in  this 
mundane  state,  my  young  star-gazing  friend. 

And  I  shall  ever  remain,  please  your  excellency,  your  very 
humble  and  obsequious,  but  very  unworthy  servant ;  on 
board  a  ship  of  the  line,  in  the  actual  service  of  King  Jesus, 
now  riding  off*  Cape  Look-out. 

CAPTAIN  ONESIMUS. 

To  his  serene  highness,  Doctor  Deist. 

"  Shall  a  trumpet  be  blown  in  the  city,  and  the  people  be 
not  afraid?  shall  there  be  evil  in  a  city,  and  the  Lord  hath 
not  done  it  ?  Surely  the  Lord  God  will  do  nothing,  but  he 
revealeth  his  secret  unto  his  servants  the  prophets.  The 
lion  hath  roared,  who  will  not  fear?  the  Lord  God  hath 
spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy  ?"     Amos  Sd  chap.  6,  7,  8. 

P.  S.  The  author,  in  his  sarcastical  war  against  the  infi- 
delity of  the  times,  has  adopted  the  counsel  of  the  wise  Man, 
or  rather  the  Spirit  of  God : 

"  Answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest  thou  also 
be  like  unto  him.  Answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest 
he  be  wise  in  his  own  conceit."     Proverbs  26,  4  4*  5. 


FIXIS. 


A  SYNOPTICAL  VIEW  OF  THIS  LITTLE  WORK. 


Page  5.  A  view  of  West's  picture  of  Christ  Rejected. 

Page  10.  The  Jewish  nation.  1st  Letter  to- the  Deists  of 
modern  Christendom,  setting  forth  God's  ancient  people  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  as  loosing  their  national  visi- 
bility. 

^  Pi^E  18.^'Jlae  Jewish  nation.  2d  Letter  to  the  Deists  of 
Christendom' ;  when  the  Rabbi  goes  into  a  more  lucid  discus- 
sion on  the  present  condition  of  the  human  family,  and  also 
expatiates  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

Page  30.  The  Jewish  nation.  3d  Letter  to  the  Deists  of 
modern  Christendom.  In  this  letter,  the  Jew  to  his  deistical 
friend,  goes  into  a  more  metaphysical  discussion  of  the  hy- 
postatical  nature  of  man,  and  obliquely  glances  at  the  person 
of  Christ. 

Page  38.  The  Jewish  nation.  4th  Letter  to  the  Deists 
of  Christendom  ;  when  the  old  Jew  is  led  to  farther  indulge 
himself,  in  a  rife  capitulation  to  his  friend,  respecting  their 
former  invidious  and  insidious  reflections  on  the  person  of 
Christ. 

Page  50.  The  Jewish  nation.  5th  Letter  to  the  Deists  of 
modem  Christendom ;  when  the  old  Jew  delivers  his  perora- 
tion to  his  friend,  under  the  appellation  of  a  Prince  of  mo- 
dern Infidelity,  and  prays  the  Deist  to  have  the  claims  of 
Christ,  duly  and  legally  tested,  by  having  the  eleven  disci- 
ples tried  in  a  court  of  law  and  inquest,  as  they  stand  charged 
with  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ. 

Page  58.  The  Deists  under  the  idea  of  a  king  of  modem 
infidelity.  After  a  rife  disquisition  on  the  weighty  import- 
ance of  the  subject,  when  he  cordially  acquiesces  with  the 
valedictory  prayer  of  the  old  Jew. 

Pace  65.  The  court  is  called  by  royal  proclamation ;  whea 
2p 


A  SYNOPTICAL  VIEW  OP  THIS  LITTLE  WORK. 

the  crucified  body  of  Christ  is  tried  by  proxy,  for  breaking 
out  of  the  old  dungeon  of  death. 

Page  93.  The  trial  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest  of  the 
Jews. 

Page  169.  The  trial  of  Pontius  Pilate,  the  governor  of 
Judea. 

Page  212.  The  trial  of  the  Centurian,  who  had  the  charge 
of  the  sepulchre. 

Page  243.  The  trial  of  the  Eleven  Disciples,  as  they  stood 
charged  with  robbing  the  sepulchre  of  the  crucified  iody  of 
Christ.  ^o  ••     # 

Page  293.  The  proceedings  of  the  Court  of  Infidelity  in- 
terrupted by  a  young  laA^yer  of  the  Roman  bar,  who  finally 
arrests  the  illegal  verdict  of  the  court,  from  b'eing  pronounced 
against  the  eleven  disciples. 

Page  398.  The  trial  of  Caiaphas  and  Pilate,  with  their 
condemnation  and  banishment. 

Page  419.  A  valedictory  letter  to  the  Jewish  nation — 
who  are  scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Page  436.  A  farewell  letter  to  the  Philosophers  and 
Deists  of  modern  times. 


THE   NAMES  OF  MINISTERS  OF   THE  GOSPEL 
WHO  HAVE  SUBSCRIBED  TO  THIS  WORK, 


Philadelphia. 


B.  W.  Richards,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia. 

Rt.  Rev.  William  White,  D.  D. 

Rev.  G.  T.  Bedel,  D.  D. 

Rev.  George  Boyd. 

Rev.  Gilbert  R.  Livingston,  D.  D. 

Rev.  William  T.  Brantly. 

Rev.  John  Chambers. 

Rev.  George  G.  Cookman. 

Rev.  William  M.  Engles. 

Rev.  Wilham  E.  Ashton. 

Rev.  Manning  Force. 

Rev.  Michael  Hurley,  D.  D. 

Rev.  William  Mann,  A.  M, 

Rev.  John  L.  Grant. 

Rev.  Samuel  Helfenstein, 

Rev.  G.  B.  Perry. 

Rev.  George  Chandler. 

Rev.  James  Patterson. 

Rev.  Joseph  Holditch. 

Rev.  Thomas  J.  Kitts. 

Rev,  Albert  Helfenstein,  jr. 

Rev.  Joseph  Rusling. 

Rev.  Peter  WoUe. 

Rev.  Bartholomew  Weed» 

Rev.  Joseph  Kennard. 

Rev.  Samuel  Huggins, 

Rev.  J.  W.  Holman. 

Rev.  Thomas  Porter, 

Pennsylvania  f 

Bev,  Albert  Jadson. 

Eev.  P,  H,  Comming,  PoitmlU, 


SUBSCBIBEBS  NAMBS. 

Rev.  David  Jonefs, 
Rev.  William  Hall. 
Rev.  Levi  Tucker. 

Wilmington,  Del. 

Rev.  J.  P.  Peckworth. 

Baltimore. 

Rev.  John  Healey,  M.  D. 

Kentucky. 

Rev.  James  R.  Burcli. 

NeiD  Jersey.  ^ 

Rev.  Joseph  Maylin,  3Iount  Holly. 
^Rev.  Charles  J.  Hopkins,  Salem. 
Rev.  John  Sisty,  Haddonfield. 
Rev.  Joseph  Shepherd,  Mount  Holly. 
Rev.  C.  R.  Mulford,  Pemberton. 
Rev.  Richard  W.  Pctherbridge. 
Rev.  Daniel  Dodge,  Neiv  Brunswick. 
Rev.  Henry  Smalley,  Roads  Town. 
Rev.  Ethan  Osburn. 
Rev.  William  Bacon. 
Rev.  Enoch  M.  Barker,  Canton. 
Rev.  Samuel  Smith,  Cape  May. 
Rev.  Solomon  Higgins. 
Rev.  Ambrose  Garrett,  Cape  May. 

New  York, 

Rev.  Joshua  Lewitt. 


BS2427.H61  .  .    ^.u 

Christ  rejected;  or,  The  trial  of  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


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